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48th Congress, ) SENATE. i Report 

1st Session. | \ No. 393. 



]N THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



March 26, 1884.— Ordered to be printed. 



Mr. Morgan, from the OoTnniittee on Foreign Relations, submitted the 

following 

REPORT: 

[To accompany S.Ees. 68 and Mis. Doc. 59.] 

The Committee on Foreign Relations, to whom were referred Senate 
Mis. Doc. No. 59 and Senate Joint Resolution 68, relating to the occu- 
pation of the Congo country, in Africa, have had the same under con- 
sideration, and report a substitute for the same, and recommend its 
passage. 

The President, in his annual message to this ( congress, expresses ' 
sentiment of the people of the United States on the subject of our fut 
relations with the inhabitants of the valley of the Congo, in Africf 

Our attitude towards that country is exceptional, and our inte^^ 
its people is greatly enhanced by the fact that more than oue-t 
our population is descended from the negro races in Africa. 

The people of the United States, with but little assistance from 
Government, have established a free republic in Liberia, with a co\ 
tution modeled after our own, and under the control of the negro ra 
rts^ area is 14,300 square miles ; its population is about 1,200,000 souL 
its commerce is valuable ; its government is successful, and its peopl 
are prosperous. 

The necessity for a negro colony in Liberia was suggested by the fact 
that slaves found in vessels captured for violations of the slave-trade 
laws and treaties were required to be returned to Africa when that was 
practicable, and it was impossible, and it would have been useless and 
cruel, to send them back to the localities where they were first enslaved. 
Humanity prompted certain private citizens of the United States to 
organize the American Colonization Society in aid of the return of cap- 
tured slaves to Africa and to find a congenial asylum aud home for ne- 
groes who were emancipated in the United States. 

Henry Clay was, for many years, president of this association, and 
assisted it with the influence of his great name and broad philanthropy. 

The success of the Liberian colouy has demonstrated the usefulness 
of that system of dealing with a social question which is, to the people 
of the United States, of the highest importance. It has also established 
a recognized precedent in favor of the right of untitled individuals to 
found states in the interests of civilization in barbarous countries, 
through the consent of the ^ ' authorities, aud it has given confi- 
dence to those who look to •^.e of the nations for a restoration of 



2 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. . ' 

the emancipated Africans to their own country, if they choose to return 
to it. 

This great duty has, so far, been left entirely to the efforts of citizens of 
the United States, and it has been supported almost exclusively by their 
personal contributions. The governments of the world have Ijeen slow 
even to recognize the state thus founded by the courage and means of 
])rivate citizens, but it is now firmly established in the family of na- 
tions, and is everywhere recognized as a free and independent nation. 

This pleasing history of progress, attended with peace and prosperity 
in Liberia, has given rise to a feeling of earnest interest amongst the 
people of the United States in the questions which arise from the recent 
discovery by their countryman, H. M. Stanley, of the great river which 
drains equatorial Africa., They rejoice in the revelation that this nat- 
ural highway affords navigation for steamers extending more than 
half the distance across the continent, and opens to civilization the 
valley of the Congo, with its 900,000 square miles of fertile territory 
and its 50,000,000 of peojjle, who are soon to become most useful fac- 
tors in the increase of the productions of the earth and in swelling the 
volume of commerce. 

The movements of the International African Association which, with 
a statement of its purposes, are referred to in the letter of the Secre- 
tary of State, appended to this report, are in the direction of the civili- 
zation of the negro population of Africa, by opening up their country 
to free commercial relations with foreign countries. 

As a necessary incident of this praiseworthy work, which is intended, 
in the broadest sense, for the equal advantage of all foreign nations 

eking trade and commerce in the Congo country, the African Inter- 

tional Association has acquired, by purchase from the native chiefs, 

; right ot" occupancy of several places for their stations and depots. 

- property so acquired is claimed only for the association, which is 

^ed of persons from varions countries, audit could not, therefore, 

.ced uiid^r the shelter of any siugle foreign flag. 

jm the tim>^lien the people of Christian countries began to export 

es from Africa, the custom grew up of locating " barracoons" or slave 

jots along the African coasts and rivers, and they were each placed 

.der the shelter of the flag of the country to which the s]«,ve merchants 

elonged. In this way certain settlements \,^ere made along the shores 

jf the Congo Eiver as far inland as Yellalla Falls, and were claimed and 

held under the protection of the respective flags of the countries from 

which these traders came. 

This was, generally, a mere personal adventure, and had no relation 
to any governmental authority of those countries over the barracoons. 
When this traffic took the shape of legitimate commerce with the natives, 
these places were called factories, and they gradually assumed certain 
powers of self-government as their necessities required. Each factory was 
independent of the control of all others, and established for itself such 
aegulations, having really the effect of laws, as was necessary to protect 
life and property. To this day those settlements are held in the same 
way, and while the governments, whose flags are thus displayed over 
them, claim no sovereignty there, they do recognize the rights of their 
people at such places as entitling them to protection, and they require 
their flags to be respected. 

In some instances the native chiefs sold the lands on which the fac- 
tories were situated, Avith the privileges of trade to foreign companies, 
and these in turn sold them to person' ^ still other nationalities. 

The African International Assoc^ 'established its stations, and 

in? 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

,^ opened roads leading from one to another around the falls of the Congo 
o^ in the same way that the older factories had been established, with the 
" additional fact in their favor that their settlements were always i)re- 
ceded by an open agreement with the local government in the form of 
a treaty. A flag was as necessary for the purposes of their settlement 
and as an indication of their right and to designate the places under 
their control, as it was to the slave traders, whose only advantage is 
that they have been in possession a long time for the purposes of nefarious 
tratfic in slaves, while the Association has been in possession only a short 
time for the benign purposes of introducing civilization into that coun- 
try. 

Having no foreign flag that they could jnstly claim, they adopted a 
flag and displayed it, a golden star in a field of blue, the symbol of hope 
to a strong but ignorant people, and of prosperity through peace. The 
native people instinctively regarded that as the first banner they had 
seen that promised them good will and security, and they readily yielded 
to it their confidence. 

There is no historical record to be found of such a rapid and general 
assembling of separate and independent rulers under a banner that was 
raised by the hands of strangers, as that which took place amongst the 
chiefs and people of the Free States of the Congo. Within five years 
from the time the banner of this association was first displayed on the 
. Congo, its agents have made nearly one hundred treaties with the chiefs 
of the different tribes in the Congo country. In each of these treaties 
there are valuable commercial agreements and regulations touching 
law and order, and certain delegations of limited powers, all of which 
are intended for the better government of the country. 

The powers are not ceded to a new and usur|)ing sovereignty seek- 
ing to destroy existing governments, but are delegated to a common 
agent for the common welfare. In the language of the first treaty, con- 
cluded at Vivi June 13, 1880,, and which is the plan after which nearly 
one hundred subsequent treaties have been modeled — 

The aforfisaid chiefs of the district of Vivi recognize that it is highly desirable that 
the comite cVeiudes of the Congo should create and develop in their states establishments 
calculated to foster commerce and trade, and to assure to the country and its inhabit- 
ants the advantages which are the consequence thereof. 

With this object in view they cede and abandon, in full property (fee-simple), to 
the tomile d'etudes, the territory comprised within the following limits, &c. 

A copy of this treaty is appended to the report of the committee. 

If these local governments had the right to malce tiiese concessions, 
so much sovereign power as they confer upon the African International 
Association is entitled to recognition by other nations as justifying its 
claim to existence as a government dejure. Or, if there is still a ques- 
tion as to its sovereignty, affecting either its territorial extent or the 
subjects as to which it may legislate, there is still enough of concert 
amongst the native tribes, in placing themselves in treaty relations with 
this association, to warrant other nations in recognizing its existence as 
a government de facto. In either case, it is our duty so to recognize it. 
because its purposes, as avowed in those treaties, are peaceful, and com- 
mend theniselves strongly to the sympathies of our people. 

The golden star of the banner of the International Association repre- 
sents hospitality to the people and commerce of all nations in the Free 
States of the Congo; civilization, order, peace, and security to the per- 
sons and property of those who visit the Congo conntry, as well as to its 
inliabitants ; and if, in the ])romotion of these good purposes, it lawfnlly 
represents powers ceded or delegated to the Associati(iii by the local 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTEY IN AFEICA. 

governiaents necessary to make them effectual, it doCwS not thereby 
offend against humanity nor unlawfully usurp authority in derogation 
of the rights of any nation upon the earth. 

Powers asserted in good faitji, and with a reasonable show of ability 
to maintain them, even by rebels, within a state that denounces their 
assertion as treasonable, are often recognized as being lawful, as well 
in the interests of humanity, as to give to the alleged rebels an oppor- 
tunity to make good their pretensions by arms. 

The history of our recent civil w ar discloses the recognition of the bel- 
ligerent rights of the Confederate States by all nations, including the 
United States, which wholly denied the lawfulness of the acts of seces- 
sion which led to hostilities, and denounced them as treasonable. 

If the flag of the Confederate States could protect its armed citizens 
against the penalties of piracy while destroying the ships and com- 
merce of the United States, it would be difficult to state a reason why 
the flag of the International African Association should not protect its 
ships from capture and condemnation while carrying on peaceful com- 
merce on the Congo. It would be still more difficult for any Christian 
nation to assign a reason founded in the principles of international law 
why it should refuse to recognize this flag. The Congo River has been 
for centuries, and is now, the common resort of the ships and flags of all 
countries, and it requires a total change of the political conditions in 
that country to destroy this right, and either to declare the waters and 
shores of the Congo as being neutral territory or as being under the 
sovereignty of any one or more of the foreign nations. 

These reasons, and others which appear in the papers appended to 
this report, are a just and suflicient foundation for the declaration by 
the United States which individualizes the flag of the African Interna- 
tional Association as a national flag, entitled to our recognition and 
respect. 

The precedents in our own history to justify our recognition of states 
while in the process of early development are numerous and conclusive. 
They are cited in the pajjers appended to this report, and are sustained 
by many other references which show that in Europe, Asia, and Af- 
rica civil power, exerted by commercial associations, and by religious 
orders, and by propagandas of civilization, and by groups of Hospi- 
taleis, has owned large war fleets and raised armies, fought great bat- 
tles, levied taxes, and performed every function of government. They 
did all this without claiming to possess sovereign power as organized 
nations ; and they submitted themselves to the authority of the state 
after they had prepared the country where they ruled for that final act 
of establishment of sovereign power, and then they ceased to exist. 

It is not necessary to go further in order to find a justification of the 
action suggested in the message of the President, and of the resolution 
which the Committee on Foreign Relations recommend as a proper means 
of carrying into effect this policy concerning the Free States of the Congo. 

It is, however, proper to make some examination of the alleged claim 
of Portugal to the sovereignty of the mouth of the Congo, and of the 
riparian country as far to the interior as the first falls of Yellalla. 

Portugal's pretensions to this sovereignty are completely refuted by 
the fact that it has not been heretofore acknowledged by the five great 
powers whose flags have been flying for more than a century in the 
country now claimed by that Government. On the contrary, these pow- 
ers have constantly refused to make any such concession on all occasions 
since 1786, and some of them previous to that time. 
- The claim of Portugal, based on discovery of the mouth of the Congo 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 5 

by Diogo Cam in 1485, ami by his having erected a mouiiment ou the 
shore to testify to his lauding there, only establishes its antiquity and 
not its rightfulness under modern interpretations of the laws of na- 
tions. 

If the laws of Christian nations give any effect to the discovery by 
the subjects of a Christian power, of a country inhabited even by sav- 
ages, they also require that discovery shall be followed by continuous 
subsequent occupation. If such occupation ceases, it is justly consid- 
ered as being abandoned, since the only foundation of reason or of 
justice that can support the occupation of an inhabited country by a 
foreign power is, that it is better that the savages should have the ad- 
vantages of Christian instruction and laws, than that they should con- 
tinue in darkness to rule the country iu their own way. If, therefore, the 
Christian ruler should cease to occupy the country, it must be con- 
sidered that he abandons his duty, and, with it, the sovereignty of the 
country. 

Portugal did not exert continuous or exclusive authority on the Congo 
for any great while; her possessions there, as well as those of the other 
Christian powers, fluctuated with the suj)ply of slaves, the capture or 
purchase of which was the chief inducement to these settlements. 
They all followed up the supply of slaves from the interior of Africa, 
along the coast, according to its abundance, as the fishermen visit dif- 
ferent localities in search of better fishing grounds. 

In 1786, disputes having arisen between Prance and Portugal as to 
the sovereignty of the latter over the mouth of the Congo, under the 
mediation of the King of Spain, Portugal conceded the point that her 
rights iu that country were not exclusive. Since that time England 
has repeatedly denied, in the most formal and solemn manner, that 
Portugal had any sovereignty or suzerainty over the Congo country. 
None of the great powers claimed such sovereignty for themselves, nor 
have they conceded it to Portugal; their occupancy has not been such 
as implied any right to rule the country, but only such as was neces- 
sary to carry on trade. That is equally free to all nations. In the pa- 
pers appended to this report, and especially in the valuable testimony 
of Earl Mayo, based upon his personal observations in the Congo coun- 
try in 1882, we find the most conclusive proof upon all the points above 
stated, and unquestionable evidence that Portugal's northernmost bound- 
ary on the west coast of Africa, south of the Equator, for many years 
past, has been the river Loge. 

The attitude of Great Britain towards the pretensions of Portugal to 
the sovereignty of the Lower Congo has been that of decided, frequent, 
and stern denial, accompanied with distinct orders to her fleets to repel 
any advance of Portugal to assert her authority north of Ambriz. This 
record, so repeatedly reaffirmed, is by no means changed by the fact 
that Great Britain may now be ready to admit Portugal, in alliance 
with her, to sovereign rights in the Lower Congo. Her change of 
policy cannot change the facts, especially when Great Britain obtains 
from Portugal the cession of Wydha in consideration that she will 
acknowledge the rights of Portugal to the sovereignty of the Lower 
Congo. Great Britain has also made treaties with fifteen tribes in the 
Lower Congo country, paying no attention to Portugal's claims of sov- 
ereignty there. 

In like manner France has disregarded these pretensions, and has 
made treaties with tribes north of the Congo. De Brazza, an enter- 
prising explorer, weut into that region of Africa as an agent of the 
African International Association, and also as an agent of the French 



6 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

Government, and was supported with money from the French treasury. 
He made these treaties in the name of France, and the Chamber of 
Deputies has ratified them. In view of these facts it can scarcely bo 
denied that the native chiefs have the right to malie treaties. The able 
and exhaustive statements and arguments of Sir Travers Twiss, the 
eminent English jurist, and of Professor Arntz, the no less distin- 
guished Belgian publicist, which are appended to this report, leave na 
doubt upon the question of the legal capacity of the African Interna- 
tional Association, in view of the laws of nations, to accept any i)o\vers 
belonging to these native chiefs and governments which they may 
choose to delegate or cede to them. 

The practical question to which they give an affirmative answer, for 
reasons which appear to be indisputable, is this: Can independent 
chiefs of savage tribes cede to private citizens (persons) the whole or 
part of their states, with the sovereign rights which pertain to them, con- 
formably to the traditional customs of the country ? 

The doctrine advanced in this proposition, and so well sustained by 
these writers, accords with that held by the Government of the United 
States, that the occupants of a country, at the time of its discovery by 
other and more powerful nations, have the right to make the treaties 
for its disposal, and that private i)ersons, when associated in such coun- 
try, for self-protection or self-government, may treat with the inhabi- 
tants for any purpose that does not violate the laws of nations. 

The following incidents mentioned in Bancroft's History of the United 
States, show how much we owe, as a people, to the early recognition of 
these doctrines: 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

One day in March, 1621, Sainoset, aa ludian, who had learned a little English of 
the fishermen at Penobscot, entered the town, and, passing to the rendezvous ex- 
claimed in English, "Welcome Englishmen !" He was the envoy of Massasoit himself, 
the greatest commander of the country; sachem of the tribe possessing the laud north 
of Narragausett Bay, and between the rivers of Providence and Taunton. After 
some little negotiation, in which an Indian who had been carried to England acted 
as interpreter, the chieftain came in person to visit the Pilgrims. With their wives- 
and children they amounted to no more than fifty. He was received with due cere- 
monies, and a treaty of friendship was completed in few and unequivocal terms. 
Both parties promised to abstain from mutual injuries, and to deliver up offenders ; 
the colonists were to receive assistance, if attacked; to render it, if Massasoit should 
be attacked unjustly. The treaty included the confederates of the sachem ; it is the 
oldest act of diplomacy recorded in New England, it was concluded in a day, and 
was sacredly kept for more than half a century. (Bancroft's History of the United 
States, p. 210). 

The men of Plymouth exercised self-government without the sanction of a royal 
charter, which it was ever impossible for them to obtain. (Ibid, p. 213.) 

The attempt to acquire the land on Narragausett Baj^ was less deserving of success. 
" * * In 1641 a minority of the inhabitants, wearied with harassing disputes, re- 
quested the interference of the magistrates of Massachusetts, and two sachems near 
Providence surrendered the soil to the jurisdiction of that State. {Ibid, p. 287.) 

PROVIDENCE PI.ANTATIONS AND RHODE ISLAND. 

In June (1636) the law-giver of Rhode Island (Roger Williams), with five com- 
panies, embarked on the sti-eam ; a frail Indian canoe contained the founder of an in- 
dependent State and its earliest citizens. Tradition has marked the spring of water 
near which they landed. To express unbroken confidence in the roercies of God, he 
called the place Providence. * * * The land which he occupied was within the 
territory of the Narragansetts. In March, 1638, an Indian deed from Canonicus and 
Miantouomoh made him the undisputed possessor of an extensive domain; but he "al- 
ways stood for liberty and equality both in land and government." The soil became 
his "own as truly as any man's coat upon his back ; " and he "reserved to himself not 
one foot of land, not one tittle of political power, more than he granted to servants 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 7 

and strangers." He gave away his lands and other estates to them that he thought 
most in want until he gave away all. (Ibid, p. 254.) 

Before the month (March, 1638,) was at an end, the iufluonce of Roger Williams and 
the name of Henry Vaue prevailed with Miantonomoh, the chief of the Narragansetts, 
to make them a gift of the beautiful island of Rhode Island. * * ' A patent from 
England was necessary for their security ; and in September they obtained it thi'ough 
the now powerful Henry Vane. (Ibid, p. 263.) 

CONNECTICUT. 

In equal independence a Puritan colony sprang up at New Haven, under the guidance 
of John Davenport as its pastor, and of his friend the excellent Theophilus Eaton. 
* * * In April, 1638, the colonists held their first gathering under a branching 
oak. * * * A title to lands was obtained by a treaty with the natives whom they 
protected agaiust the Mohawks. {Ibid, p. 271.) 

NEW FrAMPSHIRE. 

At the fall of the leaf in 1635, a band of twelve families, toiling through thickets 
of ragged bushes and clambering over crossed trees, made their way along Indian 
paths to the green meadows of Concord. A tract of land 6 miles square was jmrchased 
for the planters of the squaw sachem and a chief, to whom, according to Indian laws 
of property, it belonged {Ibid, ]}. 257.) 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

In 1660 or 1661 New England men had found their way- into the Cape Fear River, 
had purchased of the Indian chief a title to the soil, and had planted a little colony 
of herdsmen far to thesouthof any English settlement on theconttuent. {Ibid, p. 409.) 

It is known that in 1662 the chief of a tribe of Indians granted to George Durant 
the neck of land which still bears his namj. {Ibid, p. 410.) 

We owe it as a duty to our African population that we should en- 
deavor to secure to them the right to freely return to their fatherland, 
and as freely to agree with their kindred people upon any concessions 
they may choose to make to them as individuals or as associated colo- 
nists, looking to their re-establishment in their own country. The de- 
portation of their ancestors from Africa in slavery was contrary to the 
now accepted canons of the laws of nations and now they ma.v return 
under those laws to their natural inheritance. In exercising this right 
they should not be obstructed by a power that had more to do with 
their enslavement and expulsion, in bondage, from their own country 
than any other, and that never held a claim upon that country for any 
purpose of advantage to the people there, but held it chiefly, if not en- 
tirely, for the mere purpose of enslaving them. 

It is stated, with the supj^ort of strong testimony that Portugal is 
still protecting the slave trade on the west coast of Africa under a thin 
guise of the voluntary emigration of the negroes to other countries. 

Extracts appended to this report, from Earl Mayos Be Rebus Afri- 
canus, in which he gives an account of his personal examination, in 1882, 
of the Portuguese trading jjosts, supported by the report of M. du Verge, 
our United States consul at St. Paul de Loando, show that slavery still 
exists in the country claimed by Portugal on the Congo, and is fostered 
there and at St. Paul de Loando by the Portuguese residents. 

This violation of the slave-trade treaties renders the occupancy by 
Portugal of any African territory a^ the mouth of the Congo dangerous 
to all the tribes of the interior, and cannot be sanctioned by the treaty 
powers while it is attended with such incidents without an abandon- 
ment of all treaty obligations and duties relating to the slave trade. 

The importance of the Congo River to the continent of Africa as a 
channel through which civilization and all its attendant advantages will 
be introduced into a region inhabited by 50,000,000 of people cannot be 
too highly estimated. 

After Stanley had made his journey of exploration of nearly 7,000 



8 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

miles across the continent of Africa, and had revealed to the world the 
extent and importance of this great river Congo, all the great commer- 
cial nations at once began to look earnestly in that direction for a new 
and most inviting field of commerce, and with the high and noble pur- 
pose of opening it freely to the equal enjoyment of all nations alike. 

The merchants of Europe and America insist upon this equal and 
universal right of free trade with that country, and their chambers of 
commerce have earnestly pressed upon their respective governments 
tb* duty and necessity of such international agreements as would secure 
these blessings to the people of Africa and of the entire commercial 
world. 

The enlightened King of the Belgians has supplied the means from 
his private purse to inaugurate civilization in the Cougo country under 
the authority of its native rulers. He has no thought of extending the 
power of his realm over that country, but has engaged in this move- 
ment only as any citizen might. 

The following extract, copied from the Pall Mall Gazette, printed in 
1882, gives an account in brief of the progress made by the African In- 
ternational Association within the first three years after Stanley's dis- 
covery : 

The interests involved on the Congo are very considerable. The imports of English 
manufactures are said to amount to £600, (^ -per annum. Two British steam com- 
panies call regularly at the mouth of the river, and the gross exports and imports are 
stated to aiuount to £2,000,000 per annum. The Portuguese claim to have twenty- 
tive or twenty-six of the forty-nine Euroi^ean factories established on tlie Congo, and 
nine-tenths of the foreign population is of Portuguese origin. But English traders 
deny that there is a single Portuguese merchant on the Congo, and say, with the ex- 
ception of a few unimportant factories on the coast north of Ambriz, Portugal has 
no commercial interest in the t^ritory. Some idea of the depth of the Congo may 
be gained from the fact that vessels of 5,000 tons burden can anchor in the stream off 
Vivi, 120 miles from the sea. Above Isaugila the cataracts form the iirst serious 
obstacle to communication with the interior. Mr. Stanley has made a road 100 miles 
long past the cataracts, across which he has transported to the Upper Congo three 
steamers in sections. Two steamers, the Belgique and the Esperance, trade between 
Vivi and the mouth of the river, the Royal plies between Manganya and Isaugila, 
while the E71 Avant was launched in Stanley Pool on December 3, 1B81. From Stanley 
Pool the En Avant can steam for 800 miles into the very heart of Africa. Mr. Stanley, 
who left this country last December, is now on his way to the Upper Congo at the 
head of 300 well-armed negroes from Zanzibar. The Baptist Missionary Society has 
eleven missionaries, four stations, and one steamboat on the river. In August, 1877, 
Mr. Stanley concluded his long march of 6,900 miles from the east to the western 
coast of Africa, and arrived at the mouth of the Congo with the discovery, made at a 
cost of three white men and more than two hundred and fifty natives of his escort, 
' that the river Congo, or, as he called it, the Livingstone, was the most magnificent 
waterway in Africa, draining a watershed of 860,000 square miles, and opening a 
highway for European commerce to the whole of the equatorial region of an almost 
unknown continent. Mr. Stanley declared on his return, that whatever power could 
possess itself of the river, would absorb to itself the trade of the whole of the enor- 
mous basin behind, which extends across 13 degrees of longitude and covers 14 degrees 
of latitude. Next year the International African Association was forim^d, under the 
presidency of the i<^ing of the Belgians, and exploring parties were dispatched to 
open up the Congo by establishing a series of exploring stations which in time would 
extend across Africa. At the same time the French Government entered upon a 
scheme of its own of a similar nature, #.id various adventurers, of whom M. de 
Brazza is the most notorious, were dispatched to Central Africa to pick up whatever 
unconsidered trifles of territory might be found unappropriated, in order to gird the 
continent with the tricolor. 

Its progress is thus further described by an agent of the African In- 
ternational Association in a letter within the past month : 

Brussels, February 25. 

Our territories are extending now on a very rich coast south and north of the 
mouths of the Quiliou, a distance of more than 350 kilometers (about 300 miles). 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 9 

That coast has given itself to us by iiiiauiiuous accliimation of the natives, who 
hoisted oiir tlag and refused our X)resents. 

Our territories are going to be divided into three provinces: (I) Coast and Guiliou 
Madi; (2) Lower Congo", Vivi, Stanley Pool; (3) Upper Congo. 

Our governmental organizations will then l)e complete : In Africa, a head chief aud 
governors administering the country aud justice; in P^nrope, the association pro- 
viding for the financial wants of the new state, aud represeutiug the new state and 
many native sovereigns who have coufederated with us and hoisted our flag. 

This is the present situation and prospects of the enterprise. 

It may be safely asserted that no barbarous people have ever so 
readily adopted the fostering care of benevoleut enterprise as have the 
tribes of the Congo, and never was there a more honest and practical 
eftbrt made to increase their knowledge and secure their welfare. 

The people of the Congo country and their benefactors alike deserve 
the friendly recognition of the TJnited States in their new national 
character. 

Your committee, therefore, report a substitute for the resolutions re- 
ferred to them by the Senate, and recommend its passage. 



Department of State, 

Washington, January 18, 1884. 

Sir: I am in receipt of your letter of the 14th instant, in relation to the Valley of 
the Congo, in which you ask the nature of the understanding on which it is being 
occupied by settlements, &c. 

The settlements are all under the general charge of the Interuatioual African 
Association, which originated in a congress convened in 1876 by invitation of the King 
of the Belgians, the object of which it declared to be to extend civilization through 
Central Africa, aud as a means thereto it has built roads around the cataracts and 
established stations to aid travelers, traders, aud missionaries. The executive com- 
mittee of the association consists of Dr. Nachtegal, Mr. de Quatrefages, and Mr. 
Sanford, of Florida, formerly our minister to Belgium. Each nation has a branch 
association in its own country, of which, iuthe United States, Judge Daly was, and 
Mr. Latrobe, of Baltimore, is, the president. Stations have been fixed as far as the 
Central Lakes, and it is understood that the ground occupied by them has been 
obtained usually on long leases through friendly agreement with the native chiefs, 
the whole policy of the association being a peaceful aud benevoleut one. It is an 
open secret that the funds which supply the vast expense of this association are fur- 
nished by the King of the Belgians from his private means. The entire work on the 
river is under the executive management of Mr. Stanley. Before Mr. Stanley's well- 
known exploration, when, coming from Zanzibar, he struck the Congo near its source- 
and followed it to its mouth, it is not known that any white men had penetrated 
above the lower cataract, the first station which Mr. Stanley struck on his way to 
the sea being at Boma, or Emboma, as it is sometimes called; yet the Portuguese 
claim political rights in the valley, which, however, are not admitted by other 
nations. Over all the stations of the African Association on the Congo floats the 
flag of that association; and it is the theory, I understand, to gradually build up, 
and ediicate, at the ditterent posts, in the natives and settlers, a power of self-gov- 
ernment, by which they shall be self-sustaining. 

I am glad to see that your attention has been directed to this naatter. The popu- 
lation of the Valley of the Congo is very large, estimated by Mr. Stanley, I believe, 
at about 50,000,000. It is rich in natural resources, aud undoubtedly offers a market 
for our productions, particularly in a certain grade of cottons, which are more popu- 
lar in Africa than any produced by oM^er nations, aud probably in noticms, some kinds 
of tools, &c. The passage in the President's message indicates his desire that the 
United States should not lose its share of t)fte trade and commercial influence in this 
interesting and rich valley. 

Lack of funds has prevented this Department from making that careful aud official 
examination upon the spot which the President woiild have liked to direct. 

In conclusion, I have the honor to refer von to the New York Herald of Sunday, De- 
cember 30, which contains a map of the lower basin of the Congo, prepared under 
Mr. Stanley's direction, which is not elsewhere published, and a very full and inter- 
esting article on the subject. 

I have the honor to be, sir, j'our obedient servant, 

FRED'K T. FRELINGHUYSEN. 

Hon. John T. Morgan, 

United States Senate. 



10 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

Department of State, 

Washington, March 13, 1884. 

Sir : lu further reply to your letter of the 14th January, and in reply to your letler 
dated the 6th of February, in relation to settlements on the Congo River, I have the 
honor to inform you that I have given the matters careful attention and consideration. 

The Congo basin may be described under the designation of the Upper and Lower 
Congo. The Lov^^er Congo extends from Vivi, the base of supplies and the first sta- 
tion of the African International Association, at the foot of the Cataracts, to the 
month of the Congo River. Its principal port is Boma, formerly the center of the 
slave-trade of that region. A more legitimate trade is now taking its place. Fac- 
tories, of different nationalities, are rapidly increasing there, and the protection of 
life and property of our citizens requires that souaething should be done, probablj"^ in 
concert with other powers, to replace the crude and often cruel acfs which now take 
the place of organized justice under the arbitrary action of the separate nationalities 
there assembled. 

Both banks of the Lower Congo have been claimed by Portugal. It is not neces- 
sary, at this time, to discuss this claim, as it should not, in any event, be admitted 
to extend to and control of the Upper Congo, discovered by an American, and opened 
to the world and to civilization by the African International Association. To this 
region free access both by land and water should be secured to our citizens and 
trade. 

This African International Association, under the presidency of the King of the 
Belgians, with an execiitive committee representing the English-speaking, Germanic, 
and Latin races, and composed of leading men of both continents, has for its sole 
object the development of the vast, fertile, and populous regions of Central Africa by 
a chain of posts or stations under its flag, which shall give hospitality and aid to all 
comers, traders, or missionaries, or others. It has acquired from native chiefs or 
kings, by peaceful cession or purchase, a large extent of territory bordering on the 
Congo and adjacent rivers, extending over 2,000 miles of river banks, covering 
many square miles of territory, inany hundreds of thousands of people, and has 
established twenty-two stations under the flag of the association. It has a numerous 
personnel and local organization of Americans, Europeans, and natives; is served by 
seven steamers under the same flag ; each of the stations has become a center of trade 
and industry, rapidly increasing in population, and which seeks the protection of the 
association for its commerce and from the slave-trade. These stations appear to bo 
governed by regulations and laws mostly drawn from those of European states, as 
transmitted to them by the Association, and are still in part supported, for the pres- 
ent, nnt|il their resources from the country are further developed, by the International 
Association, which only waits, as we have been notified, more complete development 
to leave them as free states of the Congo, to freely elect their own rulers and provi<le 
for their own maintenance. Until that be done, the Association makes provision for 
them. 

The attention of the Government has been called to this condition of things, no^. 
alone in the interests of our citizens seeking trade with that vast and fertile region 
and as an outlet for the overproiuction of our manufactures, but as also a practical 
means of striking at the roots of tbe slave-trade. Heretofore, under treaties, ships of 
war have been employed on both the eastern and western coasts of Africa, at great 
expense, to intercept the slave-vessels and the shipments of slaves. 

Boma, near the mouth of the Congo, until recently, was the great mart of the west 
coast for the trade and shipment of slaves, and the country on both banks of the 
Congo, for a considerable distance back, has been devastated and depopulated for the 
purposes of the traffic. The abolition of the slave-trade by most civilized nations has 
changed the course of this traffic, which now finds its outlet by the eastern coast to the 
Soudan, Arabia, &c.,in very restricted proportions, however. I have no definite in- 
formation on the subject, but it is stated that about 10,000 slaves are still exported 
annually at a cost of several times that number of lives, and the destruction of many 
villages. 

The practical way of treating this subject, and of securing protection to our citizens 
in their legitimate enterprises, appears to be the recognition, as a friendly flag, of 
the flag of the International Association which floats over these stations as the sign 
of protection and of civilization to the hundreds of thousands of people flocking 
around it, and the appointment of an agent of the Government to reside there. It 
is proposed by the Association to admit American goods free of all duties, to permit 
Americans, whether traders or missionaries, to hold property and to exercise every 
legitimate pursuit, to assure them the same privileges that may hereafter be accorded 
to any other people, and to abolish the slave-trade in all the regions acquired by the 
Association. In return, we are asked to accept these privileges by simply a declara- 
tion, and a direction to our agents abroad to recognize the flag of the International 
Association as a friendly one. 

It is asserted by some that a political organization would be necessary for such a 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 11 

recognition, and that political conseqneuces would be derived from it. But it is con- 
ceived that there is nothing in international law to prevent a philanthropic associa- 
tion from founding a state any more than there is to prevent bands of individuals, 
whether Puritans or adventurers, from so doing. There are many precedents for this 
in history which are well known to you, and need not be here repeated further than 
to suggest one which is of peculiar interest to the United States, and peculiarly ap- 
plicable to this case. 

Liberia, like the states of Congo, was founded by private citizens united in a 
philanthropic association, under the name of the American Colonization Society, and 
it derived no authority from the Government. It remained from 1822 to 1876 under 
the protection of its founders, who during all this time continued to aid the young 
republic, by sending it some three milli<ms of dollars and emigrants well provided 
with resources for their lirst establishment. The regulations adopted in 1831) for 
Liberia by the Colonization Society having led to certain impediments to commerce 
with other countries, the English Government, althongli sympathetic to the colony, 
protested, on the ground that Liberia being neither an independent state nor a de- 
pendence of the United States, England could not recognize in its authorities the 
right to levy taxes upon goods imported by British subjects. The administrative 
council of Liberia referred the matter to the Colonization Society, and asked to be per- 
mitted to constitute itself as an independent state, which was granted. 

The question of the recognition of the rights and flag of the International Asso- 
ciation would appear, therefore, to resolve it<elf into a question of its territorial 
rights. The Department has cognizance of seventy- nine treaties conveying to itcon- 
cevssious of territory with other sovereign rights by indigenous chiefs, and cannot but 
admit that any rights heretofore pertaining to those native princes, whether of sov- 
ereignty or possession, appear to have been duly ceded to the International Associa- 
tion. If such chiefs are capable of making a treaty with foreign states — and we have 
numerous instances where Great Britain and other powers have recognized and made 
treaties with uncivilized tribes — it fails to be apparent why such tribes may not 
equally make treaties with a philanthropic association, nor why the United States 
may not recognize such sovereign powers, and thereby secure protection for the legiti- 
mate enterprises of our citizens. 

To resume : The stations and territory of the International Association appear to 
have local government. Their chiefs are chiefs of districts. They have made an 
agreement with native kings to form a union on certain conditions which have been 
carried out. What we might properly ask for, therefore, has been done. What is 
asked for by the International Association is not .so much recognition of the govern- 
ments of the stations and territories at this time, as that, in consequence of an ex- 
change of declarations, its flag would be treated as a friendly flag. What exists on 
the Congo under the flag of the International Association, the settlements, the forces, 
the administrations, the agreements with the native chiefs, appear sutflcieut to jus- 
tify and authorize such a recognition. The action, which has its center in Brussels 
(the headquarters of the International Association X does not appear necessarily an 
impediment; its action is provisional; it shares in the government of the territories 
only in their interest and behalf. Publicists generally agree that the International 
Association (a private association) has, as has been before shown, a full right to found 
free states. If the Interoaticnal Association has that right, it must also have the 
right of supporting its creation during a certain time. Various provisional govern- 
ments have been recognized by us at different times without any care as to the detail 
of the laws which they had to make to achieve their constitution, or as to the place 
of their residence. 

The International Association exists only for its stations. It has no commerce ; it 
gives no dividends. It is part of their life until it dissolves into them, the future Free 
States of the Congo. 

Should it be deemed advisable to take action in the matter of the opening of the 
Congo to American trade, it will be advisable to provide funds, that an agent of the 
Government may be sent there to watch events and to report. 
I have the honor to be, sir, vour obedient servant, 

FRED'K T. FRELINGHUYSEN. 

Hon. JoHX T. Morgan, 

United States Senate. 



1925 G Street, Washington, 2Iarch 24, 1884. 
Hon. JoHX T. Morgan, U. S. S. : 

Dear Sir: In reply to your request for specific information as to the origin and ob- 
jects of the International African Association, I have the honor to state that the Afri- 
can International Association owes its origin to the King of the Belgians, who, in 
1876, convened a conference of distinguished African travelers of dilfereut national- 



12 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

ties, at his palace, in Brussels, in September of that year, to devise the best means of 
opening up to civilization equatorial Africa. The result of this conference, which 
recommended the establishment of stations, provided for a permanent central organ- 
ization and branch organizations in other countries, was the convoking a Conimission 
or Congress, which met at the palace, in Brussels, in June, 1877, and at which dele- 
gates from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, 
and the United States were present. ' An executive committee — consisting of three 
representatives of the English-speaking, Germanic, and Latin races, in the persons 
of Henry S. Sauford, of Florida, Dr. Nachtigal (the African explorer), of Berlin, and 
M. de Quatrefages (of the Institute), of Paris, for these races respectively, under the 
presidency of the King — was confirmed, and the practical means of carrying out the 
objects of the association were discussed and determined upou. 

These were, the organization of a branch in eacJi of the various states of Europe and 
in America, which should aid in attracting attention to this work, and in founding 
"hospitable and scientific" stations, under the flag of the association, which flag 
it was determined should be a blue flag with a golden star in the center. It was also 
decided to commence the founding of these stations on the east coast, at Zanzibar, 
stretching over to the lakes. 

An extract from the proceedings, defining what these stations, destined to form a 
chain of posts from ocean to ocean, should be, is given, as best explaining the purpose 
of the association. 

" What a station shoiddbe. — The executive committee receives from the International 
Association entire liberty of action in the execution of the following general disposi- 
tions for the foundation of scientific aud hospitable stations: The personnel of a sta- 
tion is to consist of a chief and a certain number of employes, chosen or accepted by 
the executive committee. The first care of the chief of a station should be to procure 
a suitable dwelling, and to utilize the resources of the country, in order that the sta- 
tion may be self-supporting. 

"The scientific mission of a Station consists, in so far as it is practicable, in astronom- 
ical and meteorological observatious ; in the formation of collections iu geology, bot- 
any, and zoology ; in the mapping of the environs of the station ; iu the preparation 
of a vocabulary aud grammar of the language of the country ; in ethnological ob- 
servations ; in reporting the accounts of native travelers of the countries they have 
visited ; and in keeping a journal of all events and observations worthy of notice. 

" The hospitable mission of a station shall be, to receive all travelers whom the chief 
shall deem worthy; to provide them, at their cost at the place, with instruments, 
goods, and provisions, as well as guides and interpreters ; to inform them as t > the 
best routes to follow, and to transmit their correspondence. It will also be the d uty 
of a station to insure as rapid a,ud as regular communication as possible from post to 
post between the coast and the interior. 

"Oneof the ulterior objects of the stations will be, by their civilizing influences, to 
suppress the slave-trade." 

The result of this movement has been the opening up of a highway, so to say, from 
Zanzibar to Lake Tanganyka, mostly with capital furnished by the Belgians,* the 
last of the stations being at Karema, on the lake, two of the intermediary stations 
being founded respectively by the French and German branches of the association. 

After Stanley discovered the Upper Congo, in 1877, a branch of the International 
Association was formed the year following for special work on the Congo, under the 
name of the Comit6 d'fitudes of the Upper Congo, but under the flag of the associa- 
tion, and special contributions for it were made by philanthropic friends of the aeso- 
oiation. This work, which the King of the Belgians has taken under his especial 
personal and financial protection, has developed to extraordinary proportions, and 
has had for practical result the opening up to civilizing influences and to the world's 
traffic this vast, populous, and fertile region, and securing certain destruction to the 
8lave trade wherever its flag floats. The only practical difficulty in this wonderful 
progress proves to be an unrecognized flag, which is liable to be misunderstood or 
abused, and the people under it subjected to impediments in their philanthropic work 
on the part of those engaged in the slave trade, or for other selfish ends. 
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, yours, 

H. S. SANFORD, 
Member of the Executive Committee of the International African Association. 



(Extract from the report of L. de K. du Verge, United States consul at St. Paul de Loando, to the 
Department of State, of date July 7, 1883.] 

TRADERS ON THE LOWER CONGO. 

After having chosen a convenient location for one's affairs, the chiefs who are en- 
titled to receive the duties or taxes are called; these taxes are in reality rents, as 
the negroes do not sell their lands, and do not gi-e them up except for an annual or 

* The subscriptions in Belgium alone the first year amounted to over $80,000 (of which about $25,000 
annual subscriptions), by over 150,000 persons of all classes. 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 13 

inoutlily payment. The tenant has a-riglit to his land jnst so long as he pays his tax 
or rent, -which consists, besides the payment of installation, also that of rations to the 
King, amounting to a gallon of ram aid eight yards of cotton cloth at the end of 
every month, and the people that the King is obliged to supply and for whom he is 
responsible. 

The people that the King is obliged to snppls^ are: Liugster (translator), Comprador 
(purchaser), Mafuca (body servant), and four servants (mocos). 

The duty of the Lingster in a factory is to attend to the payment of produce, serve 
as interpreter in communicating Avith the natives, and to keep his employer well 
informed with regard to the business done by his neighbors. 

The Comprador serves to measure the produce, settle all difficulties arising from 
such measurements, and to withdraw from each measure the countage (tax) going to 
the King. 

This countage consists of a plate of grain for every measure of the same ; and about 
one or two gallons of oil to every measure of the same, which is set apart until there 
is sufficient to be measured when the King goes to receive it. 

The Mafuca oversees the work of the servants and substitutes the interpreter in his 
absence; the Mafuca is not in duty bound, but he has a right to his pay all the same. 

If one of these seven personages should for any reason whatever run away, the King 
is obliged to return him or replace him, if not, he loses all rights to his rations, 
taxes, <fec., until he has replaced the runaway or paid the robbery, if the departure 
be in consequence of a robbery. 

TRADE — RUNNERS {cowedores) EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE, AND THE ABUSES ARISING 

FROM THEIR USE. 

The manners and customs which have been introduced by certain Europeans to thrt 
negroes have rendered it impossible to trade with the natives without the cowedores 
These act as couriers who, for a certain payment, and furnished with a supply of gin 
and spirits, waylay the natives along the routes they take when bringing in produce 
for trade, conducting them to the employer's factory. 

It often occurs that the negroes follow these cowerfoj-es of their own freewill; but 
likewise it happens that when the negroes will not follow them, they bind them and 
oblige them to go to the house of their employers ; or when the cowedore knows there 
is not a certain kind of goods at his factory, and conducts the negroes or trade to 
another merchant's factory, he is in like manner bound hy the slaves of his employer; 
for altliough slavery is abolished, there is any quantity of it to be found, some in 
chains and others at liberty in the Portuguese houses, so that the coivedore becomes 
the slave of the white man, unless his family is willing to pay an exorbitant pi'ice for 
his liberty. These abuses and violences are very often the reason why the trade-route 
is often closed, as the natives, alarmed at the constant violence of the Kroboys straggling 
along the routes, who hinder their free circulation, have almost abandoned the Congo, 
and go to sell their produce where they can move about freely ; or remain in their vil- 
lages where they cultivate only what is requisite and sufficient for their families. 

This is the reason why the Congo, on account of violence and injustice, from being 
one of the most productive rivers only about ten years ago, has become, comparatively 
speaking, completely abandoned by the natives. 

The purchase of slaves continues at the values of £5 or £6 each, or when not to be 
bought they are obtained in the following manner: Any article or object whatever is 
laid aside, out of the way but within reach of the negro, who robs it at once, and, 
being taken in flagrante delictu, becomes at once a slave ; if he is a person of importance 
and is claimed by his relatives, or by the chiefs of the village to which he belongs, he 
is sometimes given up in exchange for two or three slaves that substitute him, and 
lose thereby the liberty they enjoyed to become slaves in their village, put in chains, 
and there made to work under the lasb and the rod. 

Therefore, should any Government seriously wish to correct or avoid any further 
slavery in chains, bondage, and unjust punishments, and secure free trade, and that 
the Congo should again be productive to commerce, as it Was about ten or fifteen 
years ago, the following must be attended to: 

The coivedores are one of the principal causes of the lack of trade, for besides the 
payment which they receive, and which can be given to the native trader, they rob 
also the payments which they receive. Some houses have more than 200 coivedorea. 
They receive a certain number of counters with numbers corresponding to the same 
numbers, with the name of the coxvedor entered in a book expressly kept for the pur- 
pose at the fetiche (the place where the trade is paid and settled) ; the cowcdor gen- 
erally receives VO markers or counters for each case of gin or demijohn of spirits. 
Each counter represents a measure. 

The coivedor is present at the measuring uud accompanies' the native trader, who 
receives an order for every measure that he measures at the fetiche. The coivedor 
takes note of these orders, and sends a counter with each one, which is kept in a 



14 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

drawer until the number is complete. If the ne,gro has done much trade through the 
interveutiou of the liugster, who pays in the fetiche, he will rob so much per meas- 
ure. If the white man does not consent to this robbery, the negro is equally robbed 
when passing through the village of the cowedor, and the cowedor pays himself by not 
giving an account of the goods which he received to attract trade, anrl goes to some 
other merchants. The Kroboys are immediately sent out on the different trade routes, 
when he is in a very short time taken and put in irons, and the chief of the village 
is made responsible for the coivedor and must pay for him ; if the chief takes no 
notice of it, men or women belonging to the same village are tied and made to keep 
with the coivedor, who is in chains. 

The king and chiefs of the village are likewise responsible for the Kroboys of the 
white man if any of them run away. For the simple reason of the Kroboys having 
passed through this or that village, although perfectly innocent, the inhabitants of 
that village are put iu chains, as also the inhabitants of other villages through which 
the fugitive passed, and remain in chains until the Kroman is restituted, and until 
the villages through which he passed have paid for him. 

This is the way affairs are carried on at jiresent on the Congo, and how slaves are 
pi-ocured at a moderate price — proclaiming at the same time that slavery is abolished. 

L. de R. du VERGE, 

United States Consul. 

United States Consulate, 

St. Paul de Loando, southwest coast of Africa, July 7, 1883. 



letter of lieutenant drake to MR. LOW. 

Naval Advisory Board, Office of Inspector of Material, 

January 22, 1884. 

Dear Sir : Knowing the interest which you have in the development of our com- 
mercial relations all over the world, I therefore take the liberty of introducing my- 
self, as one who has performed an active part in extending these relations by rneans 
of surveys within the confines of the dark continent. 

I was attached to the United States steamship Ticonderoga, on her commercial 
cruise around the world, under the command of the present rear-admiral, R. W. Shu- 
feldt. United States Navy, and while that vessel was on the west coast of Africa I 
made four expeditions into the interior, and mapped out several bodies of water hith 
erto comparatively unknown. I also wrote up the habits and customs of the numer- 
ous tribes adjacent thereto, their alliances, their advancement in the arts and sciences, 
their manner of traffic, and the products of the soil, together with exports and imports. 

Having read in the New York Herald of recent date, the action taken by yonr 
honorable body, as set forth in a series of resolutions adopted, relative to the future 
interests and commercial trade of the Congo, and the auspices iinder which said trade 
should be conducted, therefore, I beg leave to lay before you some of the physical 
characteristics of this rapidly growing section, which have come under my own j)er- 
sonal observations during the short time which was allotted to me for ascending this 
body of water. 

In my reconnaissance of the Congo from its mouth to Puerto da Lenha, in 1879, I 
examined both banks of the river, especially the southern, which is thickly infested 
with piratical tribes, offshoots of the Musurongos. I found that they respect the 
rights and privileges of others just as long as they know that an armed force is at 
hand to administer punishment for offences committed. 

The Manitombes and Sonyos, who live to the southward of the Musurongos, are 
given to commercial pursuits, and form the nucleus which brings the products of the 
interior to Quilosango, the solitary Portuguese trading post, 25 inilesfrom the mouth 
of the river, situated on its south bank. 

Friendly tribes occupy the north bank, the chiefs of which furnish the different 
trading posts with negro help, for which an equivalent is received in so many yards 
of goods, pounds of powder, &c. 

At Quilosango the Portuguese traders, who, by the way, had lived there six years 
up to the time of my visit, informed me that, the lawlessness of the Musurongos 
between Quilosango and the mouth of the river was a great barrier to lucrative trade 
with the interior tribes, as the caravans of the latter were frequently set upon and 
pillaged by the former when returning to their homes from this quarter. Until these 
pirates are subdued and made to realize the full force of an armed power backing its 
commercial relations upon this portion of the Congo, just so long will the revenue, 
which could be realized from the rich districts lying to the southward, be held in 
check. 

At Puerto da Lenha, the Dutch, French, English, and Portuguese have large facto- 
ries established, and carry on a thriving trade. 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRIC4. 15 

The Dutcli, however, are in the ascendeucy, as they coutrol the navigable portion 
of the Congo from its mouth to the first rapids above Boma, which arises from the fact 
that the only Hue of steamers run upon the river, at that time, in the interest of trade, 
was the property of the Afrikaausche Haudelsvereeuiging Company. They exercise 
a powerfnl influence over the adjacent tribes, through skillful management and fre- 
quent dashes to the chiefs. 

This influence has, undoubtedly, grown stronger with the succeeding years, and 
most probably is still having its effect upon the trade interest of this section. 

The following statistics of exports and imports by this company for the year 1879, 
raay be of interest to you (I copy from my journal) : 

EXPORTS. 

Ivory, 405 tons $1,620,000 

Palm oil, '^,800 tons 2, 240, 000 

Sesamum seed, 2,400 tons 144, 000 

Ground nuts, 13,200 tons 202, 000 

Palm kernels, 2, 100 105, 000 

Rubber, 2,600 tons 130,000 

Gum copal, 400 tons 300,000 

Orciu, 100 tons 15, 000 



4, 756, 000 

IMPORTS. 

American cotion piece goods $260, 000 

English cotton and flannel , 690, 000 

Rum,gin, i&c. (Germany) IHO, 000 

Tobacco (American) 72, 000 

Gum (English) 105,000 

Powder (English) • 30, 000 

Brass, rods, rings, &c 75, 000 

Metal, pots, pans, &c 25,000 

1,437,000 

No money is used in this trade, nor is there any money iu circulation on the river. 
The business is conducted entirely upon the barter system. 

The percentage on money invested seldom falls short of 300, and frequently runs as 
high as 400, per cent. The most is made ou liquor, and the demand for that ai'ticle 
increases from year to year. The bad quality supplied is plainly telling on the negro 
race, but business cannot be successfully transacted on this coast of Africa wituout 
this necessary article. 

I found, also, that it will be necessary to make new surveys of the river through- 
out its navigable waters, from its mouth to the first rapids. Several islets have sprung 
9ip which are not marked on the latest issue of charts. These, and the several changes 
in the deep-water channel above Banana, as well as the bars at the mouth of the 
Congo, are the results of scourings from the numerous tributaries and the deposits 
from the floating islands which pass down the Congo iu the latter part of the rainy 
season. 

Upon examination I found these islands to be apparently the result of subsurface 
scourings, in which the under stratas of loam, clay, and gravel are washed out, leav- 
ing the body-soil held securely intact by a network of the roots of the trees and vines 
which covered its surface. 

One of these islands which I measured had an area of over six acres, was thickly 
■wooded, and covered with a luxuriant growth of tropical vegetatiou, still inhabited 
with its animal life, floating silently and majestically to sea. 

Trusting that your forbearance will overlook this somewhat lengthy document, 
and that it may please you to acknowledge the receipt of the same at your pleasure, 
I will not weary you longer, but state that I am at present the Government inspector 
of material for the new cruisers at the Norway Steel and Iron Company's Works, 
fsouth Boston, Mass. My address is No. 32 E. Brookline street, Boston. 
I remain, very truly, your obedient servant, 

F. J. DRAKE, 
Lieutenant, U. S. N., Inspector of Mattrial. 

Hon. Seth Low, 

Mayor of Brooklyn, N. Y. 



\ 

\ 

16 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

\ 

ARGUMENTS OF SIR TRAVERS TWISS. 

iFrom the Law Magazine and Review, No. CCI..— November, 1883.] 

AN INTERNATIONAL PROTECTORATE OF THE CONGO RIVER. 

The question of the Congo, in other words, the question of the free navigation of the 
great arterial river of Equatorial Africa, has acquired in the present day an unfore- 
seen importance, which was not dreamt of in the last century, when the only value 
of the river was that its northern bank supplied a famous market and a convenient 
port of shipment to the African slave-dealer. The discoveries, however, of Living- 
stone and of Stanley have revealed to the world the fact that the Congo is the great 
channel of water communication between the Atlantic Ocean and the immense basin 
of Equatorial Africa, and that the cataracts, which have hitherto barred access from 
the sea to its upper waters, have providentially served to arrest the advance of the 
white slave-dealer into the interior of the continent, and have so far prevented the 
natives from regarding the white man with merited aversion. English enterprise, 
however, with good intentions toward the natives, had endeavored in vain, so re- 
cently as in 1857, to force a way from the sea by trackiug boats through the troubled 
waters of the rapids, against which the canoe of the native had failed to make any 
headway, but the Falls of Yellala presented an insuperable obstacle to the further ad- 
vance of the boats, and it was not until Mr. Stanley, descending from the interior of 
Africa, arrived at Boma, on the north bank of the river, on 8th August, 1877, that it 
became known that beyond the Falls of Yellala the river was again navigable, and 
was in fact identical with the Lualaba, which Livingstone had discovered in the in- 
terior of Africa and had partially explored. The coDsequence of this identification 
of the Congo with the Lualaba may be said to baffle calculation as regards its bear- 
ings upon the future intercourse of Europe with the interior of Africa, and it may be 
fitly an object of serious consideration on the part of the European governments how 
best to prevent the inroad of European civilization, which has now become inevitable 
through the channel of the Congo, from proving itself to be a curse instead of a bless- 
ing to the native populations of Central Africa. The white man, it cannot be denied, 
owes some compensation to the posterity of those who li his ancestors of olden time 
60 cruelly wronged by carrying them away from their native country and selling them 
into slavery in a foreign land, and it would well become the Christian States of Eu- 
rope and of America to concert amongst themselves measures which should prevent a 
work of so much promise, as that which has been successfully inaugurated by. private 
enter})rise, from suffering shipwreck through any rivalry or dissensions amongst the 
white men themselves. 

Before the first appearance of Stanley at Boma, in 1877, the Congo had already the 
reputation of beingthe fourthin magnitude of the African rivers. It has anoble estuary 
extending from Red Point on the north, which is a little to the south of Kabenda Bay, to 
Cape Padron on the south, so called from a stone pillar reported to have been set up by 
Diogo Cam in 1484 to mark the discovery by the Portuguese of a river, then called by 
the natives "the Zaire." The entrance, however, of the river itself may be said to 
commence at about 9 miles to the eastward of a line drawn from Red Point to Cape 
Padron, where the channel is narrowed to 6 miles, between French Point to the 
north and Shark Point to the south, which latter point is about 6 miles to the east- 
ward of Cape Padron. French Point is the southern termination of a narrow spit of 
land on the northern side of the estuary, about 2 miles long, known as the Banana 
peninsula, beiug the southwestern extremity of an opening leading to Banana Creek 
and to Pirate's Creek, the latter of which creeks is the outlet of a branch of the 
Congo, communicating with the Monpanga Islands. To the eastward of Pirate's 
Creek is Boolambemba Point, abreast of which the river is narrowed to '.ii miles; and 
several writers, in their account of the entrance of the Congo River, have erroneously 
described this point and Shark Point as the boundary points of its mouth. On the 
north shore the current of Boolambemba Point is both strong and deep, whilst along 
the south shore from Shark Point the soundings are tolerably regular, and the anchor- 
age is safe but unhealthy. Boolambemba Point is also known by the name of Fathom- 
less Point, from the circumstance that at the distance of a third of a mile from the 
land no bottom was found with 93 fathoms of line. It must not, however, be sup- 
posed that the fathomless character of the stream in this locality is solely occasioned 
by the excessive depth of its bed, inasmuch as the river brings down with it such an 
immense volume of water, that in some places no bottom has been found with 200 
fathoms of line, and the volume of water shoots out in an unbroken stream into the 
Atlantic Ocean with a velocity varying from 4 to 8 miles an hour. Further, at the 
distance of 9 miles seaward, its waters are still fresh, and at the distance of 40 miles 
they are only partially mingled with those of the sea, whilst the discoloration of the 
sea- water has been visible 300 miles off. The Congo, it will thus be seen, is a very 
different river from the Nigei", the next great river on the west coast of Africa, which 
has a delta with 22 mouths. The extreme rise of the river in the rainy season, which 
begins early in November and continues until the middle of April, is about 9 feet 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 17 

above its ordiuary level. Tlie stream tliiriiig this period is very rapid, and carries out 
to sea floating islands formed of the roots of varions kinds of plants and covered with 
bamboo and grass ; and as some of these islands are reported to be more than 100 
j'ards in length, they are a source of danger to ships under way, and more especially 
to ships at anchor. iSuch are the somewhat inhospitable conditions of the entrance 
of this mighty river, which was formerly frequented almost exclusively by the Eu- 
ropean slave-dealer. The steamship, however, enables the mariner of the jiresent 
day to overcome the difficulties of the ascent of the Lower Congo, which were so 
formidable to the sailing ship. There are, however, some dangers still attending its 
navigation, which can only be eifectively controlled through an international concert 
Amongst the Christian powers whose subjects frequent the river. 

As we ascend the river from Boolambemba Point, the northern shore is low and 
unattractive to the eye, until Bull Island comes in sight at the distance of about 
11 miles, above which there are several inlets or creeks hitherto unexplored, but 
studded with villages. After passing these and at about 12 or 13 miles above Bull 
Island theexplorer arrives at Puerto da Lenha, on the northern shore of the river, 
where the deep-water channel ceases. This was the principal station in former 
days where the slave ships were brought up, and Avhere the slaves which had been 
purchased at Boma and had been brought down the river in boats were shipped 
for the outward voyage. There are Dutch, Portuguese, English, and French 
factories here established, the great Dutch Company having two factories, and 
having of late enjoyed almost a monopoly of commerce with the natives. The 
river may be said to be open all the way to Puerto da Lenha, and a fresh sea breeze 
sets in generally at noon, so that the anchorage is considered the healthiest position 
•on the river. Above Puerto da Lenha the river divides into three branches, which 
;are separated from one another by a number of islands, the northernmost branch 
being named the Maxwell River or the Noangwa, the middle branch being the Mam- 
Tballa River or the Nsibul, which is the most direct route to Boma, whilst the south- 
ernmost channel is known as the Sonho, and is winding and intricate, but it has the 
greatest depth of water and has a soft sandy bottom, so that a vessel grounding on it 
suffers little inconvenience beyond Avaiting for the return of the high tide to float her 
off again. At last the explorer reaches Boma, about thirty-one miles above Puerto 
■da Lenha. Here is said to have been formerly the greatest slave-market in the world. 
The town extends several miles along the bank of the river, and it is delightfully sit- 
uated in the midst of a picturesque and mountainous country. It enjoys a dry and 
healthful atmosphere, and is destined, we may hope, to become a central entrepdt of 
innocent trade between Europe and the interior of Southwest Africa. Here was for- 
merly the utmost limit to the navigation of the Lower Congo, before the steamers 
under the flag of the Association Internationale Africaine were launched upon its waters. 
They are able to breast effectively the current, which increases in swiftness above 
Boma, and can ascend as far as Vivi, the first station established by Stanley on behalf 
•of the Comite d'Etudes du Haut Congo. Vivi may thus he regarded as the jiortal of a new 
•country, which the researches of Stanley have thrown open to the Europern traveler, who is 
sure to be followed by the merchant, and the question will of necessity arise, as to 
what law shall be binding on the European merchant ivho frequents the river, and to what 
jurisdiction he shall he amenable if he disobeys that laiv. A difficulty on this subject has 
already arisen on the Lower Congo, where it may be justly said that each man sets 
law unto hiuiself, for no European Government exercises an acknowledged jurisdic- 
tion over the river or its banks, and when crimes have been committed the extem- 
porized judges have had to take upon themselves also the duty of executioners, and 
the sense of their own weakness has led them in the interest of self-preservation to 
have recourse sometimes to measures of severity, which a constituted authority might 
not think it necessary to adopt. Vivi, the first station established by Mr. Stanley, in 
1879, is at the distance of about 115 miles from the sea, and it would seem that already 
Avithin three years since it has been founded some dozen trading stations have been 
•opened between it and Boma. Above Vivi the river makes a turn to the north, and 
in following it we arrive at the Falls of Yellala, where the river ceases to be navigable, 
and continues so for about fifty miles as far as the Cataract of Isanghila, where Stanley 
has established a second station, which is connected with Vivi by a road overland. Above 
Isanghila theriver becomes again navigable for a distance of about eighty miles, at 
the termination of which Stanley has Ituilt a third station, ami nanud it Manya 'lya. 
Here the traveler must again leave the river and procee<l by land to Stanley Pool, to 
which station Stanley has constructed a road practicable for caravans. Up to this 
point the Comite d'Etndrs da Haut Congo has established its stations upon the right or 
northern bank of theriver, but when Stanley, in ascending theriver, in 1881, arrived at 
Stanley Pool, he found that M. de Brazza, w ho had ascended the Ogoue River from the 
French possessions on the Atlautic coast, some degrees to the north of the Congo, after 
having worked his way through an unknown country during a journey of about 
eighteen months, had struck the Congo at Stanley Pool. Further it appeart^d that 
M. de Brazza had concluded n treaty with an agent of Makolco, king of the Batikes 

S. Eep. 3>3 2 



18 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

of the Congo, under which, the latter had ceded to him the territory on the northern 
shore of the lake for the establishment of a French station. Mr. Stanley accordingly 
crossed over to the southern shore, on which, in pursuance of an agreement with all the 
neighboring chiefs, he has built a fourth station and called it Leopoldville. It would seem 
from the text of M. de Brazza's convention, of which a fac simile has been published 
by the Socidte de Geographie in Paris, as an accompaniment to M. de Brazza's narra- 
tive of his expedition, that King Makoko, whose death has recently been reported, 
claimed to exercise a kind of suzerainty over the chiefs who were in possession of the 
north shore of Stanley Pool, and that two of them gave their adhesion to and were 
witnesses to the convention above-mentioned by subscribing their marks to it.* 
, Early in the next following year Stanley established a fifth station at Ibaka, at the 
confluence of the Quango with the Congo, at the distance of about 100 miles above 
L6opoldville, from which place the Congo had become once more navigable, and has 
hitherto been found to be free from all physical obstructions. It would thus appear 
that the Congo River, as now revealed to us by the researches of Stanley, may be re- 
garded as divisible into three well distinguished portions. The Lower Congo, ex- 
tending from the sea to the Falls of Yellala; this portion is throughout navigable 
by steamers of light draught, and, as a matter of fact, two steamers, owned by the 
Association Internationale Africaine, and named respectively the Belgique and the 
JEsperance, are at the present time regularly running between Banana and Vivi. The 
Middle Congo may be said to extend from the Falls of Yellala to Stanley Pool, and 
upon a portion of this, namely, between Isanghila and Manyanga, the steamer Boyal, 
owned by the same association, now plies. The Upper Congo, on the other hand, 
leads from the waters of Stanley Pool into the center of the African continent, and 
upon this portion of the river a steamer was launched on 3d December, IrHl, under 
the anspicions name of Forward (En avant). It is computed that this vessel will 
have au open course before it of 940 miles leading into the very center of the African 
continent. Stanley's fifth station has been established at Ibaka, where the waters of 
the Quango join those of the Congo. I have mentioned these five leading stati ais as 
being those which Stanley had established in the course of 1881 and 188'2, since which 
time, however, various auxiliary stations have been formed, Lutete, for instance, and 
Ngoma, between Manyanga and Leopoldville, and both of these new stations are in 
very fertile districts. Eimpopo, also a new station, established at the northern end 
of Stanley Pool, is in a food district much richer than that which was selected for 
the parent station of L6opoldville. Msuafa is a fourth auxiliary station established 
a little to the south of the point where the Quango joins the Congo. A sixth station 
may also be mentioned, which is a main station on the Congo, and is named Bolobo, 
about a hundred miles above Ibaka. Other stations have probably been established 
before the present time. The number of those which I have mentioned will serve to 
show how rapid has been already the advance of the European into the interior of 
Africa in the footsteps of Stanley, and how desirable it will be to maintain the novel 
conditions of peacelul intercourse, under which the white man has found a welcome 
amongst the various native tribes. 

M. Emile de Laveleye, the distinguished economist and jurist, has stiggested in 
an article in La Revue de Droit Internaiional, that the River Congo shall be neutral- 
ized, or that at least the stations founded upon it by the joint enterprise of the "As- 
sociation Internationale Africaine," and the Comite d' Etudes du Haut Congo, should by 
a common accord of nations be recognized as neutral territory in the general interests 
of civilization and of humanity. The alternative proposals thus advocated by so 
eminent an authority are by no means of equal import, inasmuch as the neutraliza- 
tion of the Lower Congo in the acceptation of the term " neutralization," as applied., 
in modern days to inland waters in distinction from the high sea, would operate to 
prohibit access to the river within its headlands to the armed vessels of every state. 
But such a prohibition, it is to be feared, would, in its restilts, prove to be an encour- 
agement to the piratical tribes at the mouth of the river. 

So recently as in 1875 the British commodore, Sir William Hewett, had occasion to 
la;nd a party of marines at the mouth of the Congo, and to punish the authors of the 
destruction of the English ship Geraldine and of the massacre of her crew ; and in 
the sailing directions for the west coast of Africa, published by order of the lords 
commissioners of the admiralty of England, there is inserted the following caution : 
" The Missolonges, a tribe inhabiting the creeks about Boolambemba and Bull Island, 
are very savage, and frequently attack merchant vessels and boats proceeding up the 
river without an escort. Their object is plunder, but th-ey do not hesitate to commit 
murder if opposed. Vessels, therefore, proceeding to Piterto da Lenha should, if pos- 
sible, obtain the protection of armed boats from any men-of-war in the vicinity." 

* The concluding words of the convention are as follows : Par I'envoi a Makoko 
de ce document, fait < n triple et revStu de ma signature et du signe des chefs, ses 
vassaux, je donne ^ Makoko acte de ma prise de possession de cette partie de son 
territoire pour I'^tablitsement d'une station francaise. 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 19 

Further, it must be home in mivd that the slave trade was lept up on the hauls of the river 
as late as 1875, u-hen an English expediiion dealt the slave dealing tribes what is to be hoped 
may prove to be a death-blow to their trade. On tbe other hand, from "The correspond- 
ence respecting the territory on the ^Yest coast of Africa, lying between 5^^ i'^' and. 
8° of south latitude, presented to the British Parliament in tlie course of the present 
year" (Africa, No. 2, 1883), it appears that the trading factories on the north bank of the 
Congo, with the exception of the English, are more or less worked bij slave labor; and the 
British consul at Loauda reported to the Earl of Derby that all the houses on the Congo 
hold slaves, more or less, and would not hesitate to export them if theif could find a market 
for them. If it be assumed that " public opinion " on the Congo has imi>roved since 
1877 with regard to the mode in which the European trader looks upon the native, it 
can hardly be doubted that what is wanted at the j)resent time is not the exclusion 
of the armed shijis of all nations from the waters of the Congo, but rather the con- 
tinual presence of an armed ship of one or other ot the nations, whose subjects have 
factories on its banks, whose commander should be anthorized to maintain an inter- 
national police over the river, in virtue of the admiralty jurisdiction exercisable by 
all naTions over waters which are within the tlux and reflux of the tide. 

It has been further suggested by more than one eminent aulliority that if thfe pro- 
posal to neutralize the water of the Congo should prove to be inadmissible in the 
opinion of European governments an international control over its \\ aters might be 
established analogous to that which the great ]io\\ ers have conceited in respect of 
the months of the Danube. Portugal, however, might be disposed to object to the 
institution of an international commission for that purpose, as being a derogation 
from her asserted rights of sovereignty over the river and its headlands; but even if 
Portugal were to agree to the establishment of such an international commission it 
would not be by itself adequate to satisfy the present requirements, and much less the 
future requirements of the Congo River. A dispatch of Consul Hopkins, addressed 
in 1877 to the Earl of Derby, then Her Majesty's secretary of state for foreign affairs, 
concludes with the following statement: 

"All the white men in the tract of country lying between the northern boundary 
of Angola and the southern boundary of the Gaboon consider there is no law ; they 
are not responsible to any Government for their actions, and they do just what they 
lease." This dispatch is dated from Loauda, the capital of Angola, and the resi- 
dence of the governor-general of the Portuguese settlements on the west coast of 
Africa to the t-outh of the Congo. (Parliamentary Paper, Africa, No. 2, 1883, p. 81.) 
I have alluded to certain rights of sovereignty which Portugal has asserted over 
the Congo River and its headlands, and that her pretensions to suoh sovereignty might 
create on her part an indisposition to assent to the establishment of an international 
riverain commission over the Congo, analogous to that which the European powers 
have concerted in the case of the Danube. England, however, has strenuously con- 
tested and opposed the pretensions of Portugal to any such sovereignty, nor can it be 
successfully contended that England has recognized any such rights of sovereignty 
under the treaty of alliance between England and Portugal, concluded at Rio de 
Janeiro on Dth February, 1810, nor under the treaty for the abolition of slavery signed 
at Vienna <m 22d January, 1815, nor in the additional convention of July, 1817, 
although eminent Portuguese authorities have contended for such an interpretation 
of those treaties. In may be admitted, indeed, that Portugal under those treaties has 
recorded her pretensions to the territories of Kabenda and Malemba to the north of 
the Congo, but on the other hand she has placed on record the fact that those terri- 
tories were at that time not in the occupation of the Portuguse Crown. But it is 
hardly reasonable for Portugal to insist, in the present day, upon rights of sover- 
eignty over the river Congo in virtue of priority of discovery four centuries ago, when 
she has virtually renounced all rights of sovereignty north of Cape Padron under a 
declaration annexed to the treaty of Tardo, or as it is more usually termed the treaty 
of Madrid <'f 178ri, concluded, under the mediation of Spain, between France and 
Portugal. That declaration placed on record the fact that Portugal limited, at that 
time, her asseition of rights of sovereignty to the territory south of the river Zaire, 
whilst she acknowledged the right of France, equally with Holland and Great Britain, 
to trade freely with the coast north of that river. It is worthy of note that in that 
declaration the right of France to trade Avith the ])eople of the coast to the north of 
the Congo is contrasted with the liberty to trade with the people of the coast as far 
south as Anibriz and Massaula, if such liberty was enjoyed by the English and the 
Dutch. It should be b. rne in mind, by any person who may peruse this treaty, of 
which the text is set out in Martens's "Recueil des Trait^s," vol. iv, p. 104, that the 
river is there described by its native name of Zaire, and that the term " Congo " is usid to 
signify the territory to the south of the river. This remark may serve to explain a passage 
in the treaty which is, at first sight, obscure, an<l has embarrassed several persons, 
where it speaks of the country " east-northeast of Congo." I do uotpropose, on this 
occ5ision, to enter into any discussion of the claims of Portugal to sovereignty over 
the coast to the south of the river Zaire. England has formally put on record, in 1840, 



20 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA, ' 

hh- objection to ihatclaim, and has refim^d to recognize any ru/Iit of absolute dominion on the 
2>arr of Portugal over the coast to tlto north of the port of Jmbris, which is situated in 7° 52' 
south latitude. My object iu alluding to the controversy wliicli exists at tlie present 
time as to the pretensions of Portugal to exercise rights of sovereignty over the coast 
of West Africa to the northward of Ambriz has been by no means to disparage hei' 
pretensions, but rather to show that they may give rise to diplomatic difiiculties on 
her part, if the European y^owers, whose subjects are interested in the navigation of 
the Congo, should be (lisposed to concert an international protectorate of the river. 

On the other hand, the claims of Portugal to a kind of suzerainty over the south 
bunk of the Lower Congo rest upon other considerations than the discovery of the 
mouth of the river by Diogo Cam in 1484. Portugal ajj pears to have exercised from 
time to time a protectorate over the "Mani-Congo " or King of Congo, and latterly to 
•Lave clothed her protectorate with the character of suzerainty, by exacting from the 
king at the time of his accession an act of homage and an oath of fealty to the Crown 
of Portugal. It has been contended also that the suzerainty extends at the present 
time over the chiefs of Kabenda and Malemba on the coast to the north of the Congo 
River, by reason of those chiefs having paid tribute to the King of Congo, when he 
was independent of Portugal. On the other hand, it may be said that when the King 
of Congo acknowledged himself to be a vassal of the Crown of Portugal,* he simply 
placed his own territory under the suzerainty of the Crown of Portugal, and by ab- 
dicating his independence forfeited his own claim of suzerainty over any neighboring 
chiefs wko would not become the vassals of the Portuguese Crown, unless they also 
in their turn did homage and took the oath of fealty to it. Besides, there is no doubt 
that if Portugal is entitled to regard the King of Congo as her vassal, his ancestors 
became vassals of the Crown of Portugal long prior to the treaty of Madrid of 1786 ; 
but Portugal iu that treaty made no claim of suzerainty over Kaljenda and Malemba, 
when she recognized the right of Franco and England and Holland to trade freely 
with the people of the coast north of the Congo River. 

The question of an international protectorate would be much simplified if Portugal 
should be disposed to confine her pretensions to rights of suzerainty over the territory 
immediately subject in former days to the King of Congo, as such a right of Suzerainty 
would not conflict with the treaties /or the suppression of the slave-trade, which England 
has concluded with the Chief of Kabenda and with the various chiefs and headmen of the 
Congo River at intervals betiveen 1854 and 1876. t If Portugal exercised at such time a 
direct sovereignty over both banks of the river, those treaties would be waste paper, 
but their validity would not be impeached by England's recognition of Portugal's 
suzerainty over Congo proper. What seems to be desirable under present circum- 
stances is, that the European states whose subjects have factories on the banks of the 
Congo should establish by a common concert an international protectorate of the Lower 
Congo. Ever since the congress of Vienna of 1815 proclaimed the liberty of the naviga- 
tion of the great arterial rivers of Europe, and at the same time condemned the African 
slave-trade to a slow but certain extinction, Europe has hesitated, wisely it may be 
said, to apply to the great arterial rivers of Africa the same principle of public law 
which she has successfully applied to the Rhine and to the Danube, until the slave- 
trade has become extinct. The time has now arrived when Europe may feel called 
upon to engraft the same principles of public law upon the institutions of a sister 
continent as may have been found to work well in Europe. It may be necessary, 
however, to supplement them with certain further provisions which the circumstances 
of the Congo River render imperative. The organization of the native races on the 
banks ol the Congo is still tribal, and territorial sovereignty in the sense iu which it 
has superseded personal sovereignty in Europe is still unknown. Personal sovereignty, 
however, is recognized by the European traders on the Congo, and each factory hoists 
the flag of the nation from ivMch the trader holds himself to he entitled to claim protection if he 
should be wronged by a native chief or by a trader of another European nationality. We 
have here then an element of order and it deserves the careful consideration of the Euro- 
pean Governments whether they should not take advantage of it before disorder be- 
comes rampant amongst the crowds who are sure to throng before long in the inter- 
ests of commerce the channel which leads into the heart of Central Africa. If certain 
powers should agiee as to the establishment of an international commission of the 
Congo River, after the example of the Commission of the Danube, they might invite 

*Alfonsu I, the first Christian ruler of Congo, is said to have recognized the King of 
Portugal as suzerain by letter in 151"2, but the same king had previously recoguized 
Pope Paul III as his lord and suzerain in 1500. 

tSo recently as in March, 1876, Great Britain has concluded treaties with the prin- 
cipal cbiefs holding authority on the south bank of the Congo River, for the abolition 
of the traffic in slaves; for the prevention of human sacrifices; for the encouragement 
of lawful commerce ; for the protection of all white traders, more particularly British ; 
and for the punishment of all pirates and disturbers of the peace and good order of 
the river. (Appendix to Parliamentary Paper, Africa, No. 2, 1883.) 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IX AFRICA. 21 

t he otlu r powers to accede to it, and they might safely advance a step further. Per- 
sonal sovereignty, if cfil'eetively biought into ])lay, would be an ohA'iouR remedy for 
llie «tat«' of "wrong and unlaw" which exists at- present on the Lowci- Congo. The 
same Statt-s, which are disposed to consent to an lnternati<mal Riverain Coniinission, 
may couk^ to a further understanding Ihat each Slate nhall auiliorize lU comiimsioncr to 
to exercise consular jurisdiction on its hclialf over the subjects of the State nhieh he represents. 
The delivery of an exequatur would not be a necessary condition for such consuls to 
take upon themselves the exercise of their jurisdiction over their fellow subjects, inas- 
nmch as the ralson d'etre of an exequatur would not exist where there has been no 
recognition of a lerritorial sovereign, and the jvdge C07isul is an institution of an age 
when the theory of territorial sovereignty had not as yet siiper.seded in Europe that 
of peisonal sovereignty. 

The inl eruational organization of the Middle and the Upper Congo is a more difficult 
problem, inasmuch as the materials for such an organization, which are ready at hand 
on the Lower Congo, do not at present exist after yon ascend the river above the Falls 
of Yellala, although France has already evinced an interest in the question by acquir- 
ing a grant, of laud ou the northern shore of Stauley Pool for the establishment of a 
French station. We cannot but hope that the friends of the C omit e d' Etudes du Haul 
Congo have suffered unuecessary alarm at the hoisting of the French Hag over the 
station of Brazzaville. The same flag floats over the French factories ou the Banana 
Peuiusula aud at Boma ou the Lower Congo, and there are no words in the conven- 
tion of 3d October, 1880,* between M. Savorgnan de Brazza on the one part, aud King 
Makoko, Suzerain of the Batak^s, aud his chiefs, on the other part, which imply 
anything more than the cession to M. de Brazza of the usufruct of the territory, whicb 
extends fnmi the river of Tna to Impila, for the establishment of a French station at 
Ncouna. However this may be, the question as to what law the European merchants, 
who may frequent the upper waters of the Congo, and who may establish trading 
factories here and there on its banks, shall consider themselves to owe obedience, and 
to what magistrates they shall be responsible, awaits solution. It would be well, in- 
deed, if the powers who may agree to establish an international commission on the 
Lower Congo, aud to empower their respective commissioners to exercise consular 
jurisdiction over their fellow-citizens on the lower waters, should extend the personal 
jurisdiction of their consuls over their fellow-citizens on the upper waters. Still 
further, it would be much to be desired if the sanie powers should at the commence- 
ment of their deliberations agree to draw up and sign a declai'ation of disinterested- 
ness as regards the upper waters of the Congo. The signature of such a declaration 
was adopted for the tirst time, as a jtrelimiuary to an international accord, in the 
protocol to the triple treaty of London, of July 6, 1827, when Russia, France, and. 
Great Britain entered into an alliance to bring about the independence of Greece. It 
has been frequently adopted since that time by the European powers as a preliminary 
to their conferences for the settlement of political difficulties in Asia and in Northern 
Africa. The experience of half a century may thus be invoked in favor of such an 
international act, which, in the present moment, would allay all apprehension of a 
coming struggle amongst the European nationalities for the control of nature's high- 
w^ay into Central Africa. The authority of a suzerain power is not requisite to give 
validity to such an arrangement amongst the Christian powers. It would be an inter- 
national accord worthy indeed of the, civilization of our epoch, and might arrest at 
once the further growth ot any nascent difficulty. 

TRAVERS TWISS. 

Temple, 1(3 August, 18B:i 

Postscript. — A few further observations may not he out of place in ex))lanation of 
the term " international protectorate," which I have adopted as descriptive of the 
functions of the international commission, which it may be advisable for the powers 
interested in the navigation of the Congo River to establish by a common concert 
amongst themselves, and to which the other ijowers may be invited to accede. The 
term "protectorate" is a tenu of very varied import, and it has fallen somewhat into 
disrepute of late from its employtnent in treaties, where the protecting power has ha d 
in view the establishment of a " veiled sovereignty " over another state. Protectorate s 
of this class are in the nature of unequal alliances cum diminntione imperii, and the 
protected state in sttch cases, if it has agreed to hold intercourse with other states 
only through the medium of the protecting power, has become virtually a depend- 
ency of such power, although it may not have contemplated such a result when 

* This convention is distinguishable fiom an earlier convention which purports to 
iiuve been concluded on September 10, 1880, between M. de Brazza and King Makoko, 
at Ndao, under which King Makoko has ratified a cession of territory on the Lefini, 
made by [a chief named] Ngampey, for the establishment of a French factory, and 
has ceded to France his hereditary righ.ts of supremacy over it. Both conventious 
are printed in the French Journal Officiel of 3d December, 1882. 



22 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRJ IN AFRICA. 

it entered into treaty engagements with. it. It is obvious, however, that there is 
no analogy between such protectorates and the international protectorate, which it 
is prop'ised to estabhsh in the case of the Congo River. It is in ihe nature of 
things that an international protectorate, in which several powers are associated 
on terms of equality, cannot have in view any scheme of "veiled sovereignty" 
on the part of one state over another state, although in the case of the Congo 
River it may have in view the exercise of a common authority on the part of 
the protecting powers in the interest of the peace of the river, analogous to that 
which all nations in common exercise over the high seas in the interest of their 
peaceable navigation. The highway of nations is in fact under the common pro- 
tection of all the maritiu)e powers, and it is in this sense of the term "protection" 
that it is desirable that the phrase " international protectorate " should find a place in 
the vocabulary of international jurisprudence, as signifying in the case of a great 
arterial river that its navigation is under the common j)rotection of tlie powers 
whose subjects have establishments on its banks. Such a protectorate being in the 
interest of all the states whose subjects may make use of the waters of the river, 
will on that ground have just claims to general recognition, nor will it be open to the 
suspicion which attaches deservedly to single state protectorates. 

With regard to the neutralization of the Lower Congo, which is the only portion 
of the river directly accessible to sea-going vessels, the term " neutralization " has 
also become a term of ambiguous import in consequence of its application to the 
waters of the Black Sea, under the provisions of the treaty of Paris of 18.)6. The ex- 
igencies of diplomacy on that occasion may have warranted a strained interpretation 
of the word " neutralization" in the sense of prohibiting the use of the waters of the 
Black Sea to the armed ships of every nation, even in time of peace. It would be 
very desirable if henceforth the phrase " neutral waters" should be exclusively used 
to denote waters in which no act of belligerency is permissible. Further, it has been 
well said by M. Moynier, the president of the Red Cross Association, in a memoir read 
by him before the Institute of International Law during its last session, at Munich : 
"On a beaucoup parle de neutralizer le Congo, mais en realite I'etat de choses, que 
I'on caract6rise en droit international par le mot ' neutralite,' n'est uuUemeut ce a. 
quoi I'on aspire. Cette expression n'a de sens que par antithese, et la, oii il u'y a pas 
de belligerants, il u'y a pas de neutres. Or, on envisage ici I'etat de paix." At the 
same time it cannot well be denied that it would be very desirable that the powers 
who may agree upon the establishment of an international connnission for the Congo 
River should agree, in accordance with the precedent submitted by Earl Granville to 
the acceptance of the European powers in the case of the Suez Canal (Parliamentary 
Paper, Egypt, No. 2, 1883), that no hostilities should at auy time take place in the 
Congo River nor in its approaches. The Institute of International Law, before which 
the question of the Congo came under discussion at its last session above referred to, 
was unwilling to pronounce categorically an opinion on all the conclusions presented 
to it. The Institute, however, resolved to authorize its bureau to transmit to the 
diiferent powers the expression of its wish, that the principle of the freedom of its 
navigation for all nations should be applied to the Congo River and its affluents, and 
that all the powers should come to an understanding as to the measures proper to 
prevent conflicts between civilized nations in Equatorial Africa.* 

T. T. 

&th October, 1883. 



[From the Revue de Droit International.] 

THE FREE NAVIGATION OF THE CONGO. 

By Sir Travers Twiss. 

The Congress of Vienna inaugurated a new era in the reciprocal relations of European 
states, by laying down the principle that these relations should be subordinated to 
the interests of the European community in case of conflict between the individual 
interests of the states and that which is just in an international point of Adew. It 
is a fact, which is apparent to every attentive observer of the great political evolu- 
tions of our century, that it is more and more perceived that the community of nations 
create obligations towards it, and that the empire of this community over the States 
which form part of it has several times obtained formal sanction by means of confer- 

* " L'lustitut de Droit International exprime le vceu que le iirincipe de la liberty de 
navigation pour toutes les nations soit appliqn^ au fleu/e de Congo et k ses aifluents, 
et que routes les puissances s'entendent sur des mesures propres a pr6venir les conflits 
eutre nations civilisees dans I'Afrique fiquatoriale." 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 23 

ences, whose protocols poiut out to us the coDsiderationa which dominated their coun- 
sels. These protocols form declarations, of which all the participants are the sureties. 
We are proud of moderu civilization. We congratulate ourselves upon the progress 
of international law among civilized nations. We are, therefore, justified, it seems 
to me, in asking of the states which participate in the European concert of public 
law, whether it would not be possible to assert this principle of duty towards the 
community of states as a means of solving the question of the Congo, without await- 
ing the stern necessity of intervening to put an end to war, or, at the least, the occa- 
sion of offering mediation to avert a recourse (o the sad arbitrament of the sword. 
The Congo question is in the condition of a young tropical plant, whose germ has not 
yet cooimenced to develop, but which will perhaps assume suddenly unexpected pro- 
portions. 

I have already treated of the free navigation of the Lower Congo, but I have 
omitted, or at least only glanced at the idea of an international protectorate, under 
the ftY/is of which a modus rivevdi could be established upon a solid basis of stipulated 
right, among the diverse nationalities whose flags float over the factories of BaLana 
Creek, at the entrance of the Congo, and thus pryclaim the cosmopolitan character of 
the settlement. Ascending the channel of the river, Punto da Lenha is reached, 
where & pentarehy, so to say, of European flags equally affirms the cosmopolitan char- 
acter of the port, and gives notification that the individual interests which prevail 
there rest under the protection of five states. Formerly, a common end, the slave- 
trade, was the only bond which united those diverse nationalities in a kind of com- 
mercial fraternity. To-day there exists between them a law of usage, intended to 
regulate their couiniou interests; but this usage leaves much to be desired, and it 
does not control the private life of the residents of each factory, who are free to reg- 
ulate, according to their own pleasure, their relations with the natives. In fact, 
there does not exist social order, properly so called, among the factories; there is no 
collective will among their members, no authority which they are bound to obey, 
and one may say, " VM nulla societns, iM nidlum jus." The sad truth of this axiom is 
confirmed by the stories of frightful cruelties committed upon the natives in the year 
1877, an account of which can be found in the dispatches of the English consuls to 
their Government. (Parliamentary Papers, Africa, No. 2, 18-i3.) 

M. Moynier, i^resident of the international committee of the Red Cross, at Geneva, 
<>alled the attention of the Institute of International law, during its last session at 
Munich, to the question of the Congo, and the readers of the Review will remember 
the proposition which M. Emile de Laveleye developed thereupon (pp. 254-262), ask- 
ing, in the interests of humanity, that the waters of the Congo should be neutralized by 
European action. M. Moynier had already treated of this subject at the Institute in 
Paris, in September, 1878; but it w^'is not expected at that time that the majestic 
course of waters explored by Stanley in 1877 would soon become the object of dan- 
gerous rivalries. The result has proved that the whites, who have formed many sta- 
tions upon the u])per Congo and its affluents, have already run the risk of being en- 
gaged in competitions, which may disturb the good feeling between the new-comers 
and the natives, to whom European civilization s^hould bring only benefits. The 
arrival at Stanley Pool of a French expedition which, having ascended tlie channel 
of the River Ogouve, from the affluents of the Congo, has introduced upon the banks 
of the itpper Congo the representative of a European Government, who has taken 
possession, in the name of France, of a territory ceded by the native chiefs of the 
country. 

It is evident from the very nature of things that the question of the Congo may 
proi)erly be divided into tAAO par s, for the lovvcr Congo is already subjected to au 
order of things entirely exceptional, in which five European nations participate. 
This condition of affairs was based originally upon a common traffic in slaves, to 
which has succeeded a legitimate trade with the natives — a commerce in which the 
European nations take yart in a perfectly independent manner, each for itself. In 
spite of that, there is on the Lower Congo, becatise of these nationalities, a certain 
solidarity of interest which counsels a common accord upon the subject of the navi- 
gation and the police of the river. But, as I have before said, as far as regards 
criminal jurisdiction, the whites of each factory regard themselves as independent, 
and as not responsible to any Government whatsoever. 

The Upper Congo, on the contrary, bathes the territories of many native tribes. 
Their chiefs have granted stations to the agents of the International Association, 
which de})end upon no European sovereign, but which are modeled upon certain institu- 
tions of the Middle Ages, to enable the population of barbarous Africa to participate 
in the advantages of European civilization. All the stations which this Association 
possesses have been acquired peaceably by treaties with sovereign chiefs of the 
country. It governs them by intellisjent men, belonging to all European nationali- 
ties. And, moreover, it^ has hoisted over these stations a flag which signifies that 
they belong to no especial nation, but that they form part of an International Asso- 
ciation founded in the interests of the natives, and which represents all countries 



2 4 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

interested iu the progress of humanity. A single European nation has entered this 
humanitarian arena, and that is the French Eepublic, which, in accepting, as a 
European State, the cession of territory made to Mr. Savorguan de Brazza, has 
notified the civilized world that France has not sought to put iirivate interests in 
opposition to the general interests of civilization, represented in Africa by a flag, the 
principal merit of which is precisely that of not being the flag of any one power. 
(See Report presented by the Government of the Republic to the Chamber of Depu- 
ties, 20th November, 1882.) 

"Neither in the spirit of your Commission (it is there said) nor in the views of 
the Government, is there any purpose at this moment to go upon the banks of the 
Congo, or upon the neighboring shores with military array, but simply to found 
scientific, hospitable and commercial stations, without other military force than may 
be strictly necessary for the protection of the establishments successively created." 

Unfortunately the appearance of a European national flag upon the banks of 
Stanley Pool raised the question whether the agent of an association which had not 
the political character of a State, could, by a cession of the actual sovereign of the 
country, acquire and exercise the sovereignty of a territory situated outside of 
Europe. I say outside of Europe, be'cause we do not seek to find the solution of such 
a problem, as afli'ectiug Africa or Asia, in the existing political condition of attairs in 
Europe, nor in the fixed regulations of European society, upon which that condition 
of things rests, but iu the unwritten law of nations, which should regulate the rela- 
tions between free peoples, no matter to what family they belong, nor what religion 
they profess. Yet the practice of Europe, while Christianity was seeking to accom- 
plish the high mission of civilizing the barbarous races on the northern and eastern 
frontiers, merits our attention, because of a certain analogy between the condition of 
those frontiers in the eleventh century, and the present condition of equatorial Africa. 

In order, therefore, to appreciate the action of the International African Association, 
and to fathom the question whether this action is without precedent iu the action of 
European peoples, it will be profitable, in the first place, to study the archives of a 
period when Europe was not entirely Christian, and when Christianity made a propa- 
ganda among the native pagan tribes who at that time inhabited a part of the country 
which we now call Prussia. This study will bring to our knowledge the action of an 
international association which accomplished the civilization of a country inhabited 
by people who might be called savages, and, at'the same time, will furnish a refuta- 
tion of the assertion put forth by certain publicists that states alone can exercise the 
rights of sovereignty. 

M. de Laveleye, before cited, has made allusion to the Teutonic Order as an insti- 
tution for the propagation of civilization, which, in the Middle Ages, carried civiliza- 
tion to the populations on the borders of the Baltic and cemented them to the rest 
of Europe. The action of this famous order in regard to the acquisition of the 
sovereignty of a barbarous country has an iraiiortant analogy to the action of the In- 
ternational African Association. 

Thus this order was originally a charitable association of Germans which the citi- 
zens of the free cities of Bremen and Lubeck instituted at the siege of St. .Jean d'Acre, 
during the Fourth Crusade. Afterwards, this association constituted itself into an 
order of chivalry towards the end of the twelfth century, and, after the religious en- 
thusiasm to which the Crusades had given birth had ceased to inflame the nations of 
Southern Europe, the order established itself at Culm, in the country which is now 
called Western Prussia, where Conrad, Duke of Massovie, of the Polish dynasty of 
the Piasts, ceded to it a territory and assured to it the conquests it might make over 
the idolatrous Prussians. The order by gradual steps established its dominion with 
Christianity over the whole of Prussia. The city of Konigsberg, upon the Pregel, 
was built by it in 1255, and the city of Marienbourg, upon the Nougat, which became 
afterwards the capital of the order, dates its foundation back to the year 1270.* 

Another order, that of the Chevalier's Sword-Bearers {Ensiferri), was established 
in Livonia, where, finding itself too weak to sustain the fLttacks of the pagans, it 
ended by uniting itself to the Teutonic Order. This union rendered the Teutonic 
Order so powerful it was able to establish its authority over the whole of Prussia, 
Courlaud, and Senegal, and, from the annalists of that time we learn that in convert- 
ing the people to Christianity the Teutonic Order subjected them to an exceedingly 
hard yoke. The Teutonic Order maintained itself in the sovereignty of this country 
until the middle of the fifteenth century, when it was subjected to great territorial 
losses in a war against Poland, and was compelled to become the vassal of the King 
of Poland for Oriental Prussia. It is upon the embers of this order that the Prussian 
monarchy was established hj the courage of the descendants of Duke Albert of 
Brandenbourg, grand master of the order, the first dnke of Prussia. 

It is to be observed that, during all this time that this order was sovereign, it was. 

* The Schloss-Hauptmann of the Castle of Marienbourg, formerly the palace of the 
grand master of the order, is now appointed by the King of Prussia. 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 25 

not recognizetl as a Star*-, and that the master of Livonia was not admitted to a sit- 
ting and vote among the states of the German Empire until after tliis order had 
ceased to be sovereign. 

The city of Dantzic was, for two centuries, up to 1454, the maritime capital of the 
order, and it may he said that the Teutonic Order was the supreme power, during 
two centuries, ou the shores of the Eastern Baltic without being organized as a 
State.* 

Ou the other hand, in the soutli of Europe, there was an order of chivalry whose 
services to civilization in defendiug Christian countries against the invasions of the 
Arabs and the Turks are more famous even than those of the Teutonic Order. I 
refer to the sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem. This order, oiiginally founded 
for the service of the hospital of St. John at Jerusalem, quitted the holy city at the 
commencement of the fourteenth century and established itself in the Island of 
Rhodes to defend the frontiers of Christianity against the attacks of the Saracens. Then 
it had to give up the Island of Rhodes to the Turks, and it established itself in thp 
Island of Malta, of which it obtained the territorial sovereignty as a gift from the 
emperor, Charles V, in 1530. Even tiiis order adopted a territorial title, that of the 
Order of Chevaliers of Malta, and maintained its sovereignty over this island until 
the year 179d. The English having soon after become masters of the island, by coiuiuest 
from the French, it was proposed by the congress of Andens, the 27th March, 1802, to 
restore the fortress of Malta to the Order of St. Johu, and to put the independence of 
the island under the guarantee of the powers uniting in that congress. This project 
failed. At the congress of Vienna, in 1815, the Order of Malta demanded to be pro- 
vided with another sovereign establishmeut in the Mediterranean suitable for the 
institution of the order, and that its independence and neutrality should be guarau- 
teed by all the powers. The congress would not listen to this demand. 

I have cited these two examples to show that according to the law of usage of Eu- 
rope associations which are not organized as states can, nevertheless, exercise sover- 
eign rights. But it may be said that these orders of chivalry were privileged orders, 
and that they belong to an epoch when Christian civilization was propagated at the 
sword's point. Putting aside, then, the military ejioch of the civilizing propaganda, 
let us pass to the commercial era inaugurated l>y the discoveries of Christopher Co- 
lumbus and Vasco de Gama. The theory of publicists which we have to examine is 
this, that a private association cannot exercise sovereign rights in a barbarous coun- 
try. A learned coUahoratenr of the Revue de Geograpkie, of Paris, has formulated it in 
tliese terms: " It is a principle of law that states alone can exercise sovereign rights; 
that no private company can have them."t It is evident that this proposition is 
affirmed by M. Delavand in too absolute a manner for tbe facts of history contradict 
it. Among the members wlio formed the great Union of the United States of North 
America there were at least four which owed their origin to private associations, 
whose territorial sovereignty had been established before they received any charter of 
incorporation from the Crown of England. Everybody knows that a commercial 
company acquired by treaties with the natives the sovereignty of the English Indies. 
A similar Dutch company acquired and exercised sovereign rights in the Island of 
Java and in the Malaccas. Should there be a different rule in Africa from that which 
has prevailed in America and Asia? Or should there be, for the young republics of 
the nineteenth century, a law of nations directly opposed to that which presided at 
the foundation of the independent States on the shores of North America — State* 
whose federation gave birth to the parent i-epublic of our age? I do not think so. 
Doubtless the national la^v of a country may prohibit its citizens from accepting tte 
sovereignty of a barbarous country, but the international question umst not be con- 
founded with the question of national law, in regard to which we may say, "E.rfra 
territurium jus dicenti impune nonparetur." 

Will it be said that these ideas are superannuated ; that they do not belong to our 
age ? I will reply by a very recent example, which has been the subject of discus- 
sion between the Govertmeuts of Spain, the Netherlands, and Great Britain. It is 
known that certain native chiefs on the northern coast of the Island of Borneo dele- 
gated to a European, a private individual, rights implying the exercise of territorial 
sovereignly: that the person to whom the chiefs of the country had delegated su- 
preme power, under the title of maharaja, ceded his rights to a private conijiany, and 
that that company obtained from the English Crown a charter of incorporation. It 
may be said that the history of the propagation of civilization in the seventeenth 
century in America is renewed in Asia and Africa in the nineteenth century. Tlie 

*The old Teutonic Order was suppressed in the year 1809 at the peace of Lune- 
A-ille, when the grand master of the order was secularized for the archduke to be 
chosen by the emporer. It may. be said of the Teutonic Order that it was renewed in 
1824 and reorganized in 1840 and 1865, but that it is the shadow of a great glory — 
rnagni stat nominis umbra. 

+ Vol. XII of the Review above cited, p. 224. 



26 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFEICA. 

English Government regarded this delegation of sovereign rights by native chiefs, in 
return for an annual subsidy, as a sufficient title to enable the company to exercise 
these powers, and sustained this proposition before the House of Commons. In reply 
to a question in regard to the granting of the charter of incorporation. Sir Henry 
■James, Attorney General, said : 

"The rights which have been accorded the company have become legally its prop- 
erty, and it would have been an act of contiscation if the Government of Her Majesty 
had attempted to deprive it of them." 

And the prime minister, Mr. Gladstone, also afiirmed that the charter had not 
granted to the company any power to exercise rights implying sovereignty which it 
had not already acquired by delegation from native chiefs. A correspondent of the 
Sevue de Ge'ographie of Paris has specified these rights according to the contents of 
the act. of delegation.* It is not doubtful that in virtue of this act the company, 
without being a state, can exercise sovereign rights over a' considerable territory in 
the northern part of the Island of Borneo. M. E. De Laveleye, before cited, says 
that Germany, formally consulted by the British Government in 1882, did not <iues- 
tion the capacity of private individuals or of companies to obtain from non-civilized 
sovereigns the concession of rights implying the exercise of rights of sovereignty. 
The Government of the Netherlands and of Spain did not deny such power, but they 
claimed to have anterior rights over the northerrt portion of Borneo; and it was in 
virtue of those anterior rights that they protested against the rights claimed by the 
British North Borneo Company. It is, therefore, evident that the obstacles which 
the establishment of stations by the International Association upon the Upper Congo 
might meet with from European powers are not to be found in the fact that they are 
in contravention of any law of nations by virtue of which states alone can exercise 
sovereign rights, but solely in the fact that Portugal pretends, by reason of anterior 
rights, to deny the capacity of the native chiefs of the country to cede the sovereignty 
of a part of their territories without the consent of Portugal. 

It apjicars, in the meantime, that the British Government did not yield to the pre- 
tensions raised by Holland and Spain concerning the northern part of the Island of 
Borneo, and that the Government of the French Republic, in spite of the pretensions 
of Portugal, has lecognized the supremacy of a native king upon the Upper Congo, 
and has accepted the cession of his hereditary rights. This treaty, concluded by M. 
Savorgnan de Brazza, as the representative of France, at Neousa, the 30th October, 
1880, ceded to France a territory which was in the possession of certain chiefs, vassals 
of the King Makoko; and said chiefs signed the treaty, whilst the King Makoko, in 
his capacity as suzerain of thtse chiefs, ceded to France, by an act invested with his 
mark, his rights of supremacy over this territory. It seems, therefore, that there is. 
no place for a suzerainty of Portugal over the regions around Stanley Pool, according 
to the opinion of the Government of the French Republic, for the senate and the 
chamber of deputies authorized the president of the Republic to ratify the treaty and 
act above mentioned, and the president has promulgated a law to give them full 
'effect. 

It might reasonably be Risked, if there is any difference in principle between the 
right of African chiefs, admitting they are sovereigns of a territory, arid the right of 
Asiatic chiefs to cede their territory to a private company. France, at least, has 
recognized the right of King Makoko, suzerain of the Batakes, to cede to a European 
State his rights of sovereignty, and the right of the chiefs subordinate to his authority 
to cede the possession of the parts of the territory they occupied. Why should it be 
forbidden to a native chief to cede his territory to an international European com- 
1)avLj, which, according to the law of nations, is perfectly capable of accepting and 
exercising such a sovereignty? 

The Comite (T Etudes- of the Upper Congo — for it is necessarj^ to distinguish between 
the association which occupies the Lower Congo and the association which occupies 
the Upper Congo — has made, through Mr. Stanley, with the native chiefs, treaties, 
which in legard to their tenor resemble more closely the treaties concluded by the 
British Society with the Sultans of Brunei and Sooloo, in the Island of Borneo, than 
the treaties concluded by the native chiefs of the Upper Congo with Mr. Savorgnan 
•de Brazza. Take for example the treaty which Captain Eliot, ageut of Mr. Stanley, 
■concluded with the Chief Manipembo, the 20th of May of this year. The three first 
articles declare that the Chief Manipembo cedes and abandons to the committee of 
the Upper Congo, in full property, certain territories in return for a present the 
receipt of which is acknowledged, and he solemnly declares that these territories form 
an integral part of his state, and that he can freely dispose of them. It is clearly 
evident fmm the tenor of these articjes that the Chief Manipembo recognizes no 
superior chief. Article IV of the treaty states that the cession of territory carries 
with it the abandonment, by the above-named chief, and the transfer to the committee 
of all his sovereign rights. 

*Mr. A. J. Wauters, assistant secretary of the International Congress of Commercial ' 
Geography of la79. First number of the Review, July 1, 1883, p. 60. 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 27 

Was this trausQiissioii of sovereign riohts to tlie committee of the Upper Cougo 
illegal accordiug to tlie law of uatious? It is iiulisputable that the Chief Manipembo 
was legally capable of concludiug treaties with European powers, for the French Re- 
public, through M. Cordier, on the 12th of March of this year, concluded with him 
and with the King of Loaugo treaties by which all the left bank of the river Quillou, 
which empties into the Bay of Loango, is X)laced under the protectorate of France. 

Concerning the exercise by the committee of the Upper Congo of sovereign rights, 
acquired by treaties with native chiefs, if reliance can be placed upon an ai'ticle in 
the journal V Export, which professes to have its facts from good authority, the com- 
mittee has instructed its representatives, in case of expeditions from any nation seek- 
ing to establish iheniselves there, to give them gratuitously the necessary land. The 
committee wishes especially to create colonies at the stations of the Congo, and to see 
developed there a new kind of free cifies. An idea which may throw some light on 
the future of the Upper Congo isthi.s : An IntenrntionaJ Frofectorate of the Lower Congo, 
under the presidency of Poriii(/<il, and a si/xtcm ofjree cities Jor the Upper Congo. 

History teaches us that the inarch of the caravans which traverse the sandy deserts 
of Northern Africa has been rendered possible by the existence of certain spots where 
nature has made ]irovision of water and vegetation where travelers and camels can 
rest and refresh themselves Why should not a philanthropic association be permitted 
to imitate this foresight of nature, and to establish, like these oases, free cities at cer- 
tain distances upon the banks of the great river of Equatorial Africa, to facilitate the 
progress of a liumane civilization and the development of a beneficent commerce? 

The institution of free cities in Germany greatly accelerated the progress of the arts 
aud civilization in Europe, and the rapid development of these cities in the fourteenth 
century teaches us that by means of such an organization a nearly barbarous country 
can be erected into a civilized body upon an industrial and commercial basis. These 
cities, either through their origin or by virtue of the charters granted them by sov- 
ereign powers, secured to themselves a free government, which assured to their citi- 
zens peiHoiial liberty and the ownership of their property under the protection of their 
own magistrates. 

TLe traveler in the free city of Bremen, on arriving at the market-place, will see 
before him a great stone column which is called the Rolands Saule. This column 
supports the colossal figure of a man, holding in his right hand a sword, and crush- 
ing under his feet the head and hand of a man. This is emblemmatical of the right 
of the city to dispose of the lives and labor of its inhabitants. The ])resent column 
was erected in 1412, but it replaced a wooden column which dated back to the period 
of the First Crusade, aud whose origin is unknown. Other monuments of analogous 
character to this are found in many of the cities of Germany, and they are symbols 
of the right which the magistrates of these cities had to (ixercise both civil and crim- 
inal jurisdiction. They bear witness that these cities were sni juris in regard to the 
power to make and execute their laws. Should an institution which contributed so 
much to attach the North of Europe to the civilization of the South, which rooted 
itself so hriuly upon the shores of the North Sea and the Baltic that its vitality with^ 
stood the strain of wars aiul civil dissensions for six centuries, should that be regarded 
as an innovation in the usages of nations when transi)lanted into Equatorial Africa? 

When the Dutch Provinces of Spain revolted against the Sjianish Crown, and the 
Prince of Orange granted letters of mark to individuals, to make reprisals against 
Spain, the Spanish Government refused to recognize the legality of these letters of 
mark, upon the pretext that a republic could not exercise rights of admiralty, 
which belonged exclusively to crowned heads. This is the origin of the term of op- 
probrium giiex de mer, which the Spaniards employed to degrade the Dutch, but which 
the Dutch adopted as a title of honor. lu the same way as now, it was then at- 
tempted to make it appear that under the law of nations States alone could exercise 
sovereign rights. But the facts contradicted this proposition. The suggestion re- 
calls the fable of the hare and the tortoise. According to the principles of pure 
mathematics the tortoise should never be able to catch the hare, but the problem is 
simplified enormously when recourse is had to the proof of the facts. To use a scho- 
lastic expression, " experience discovers the truth'' — solvitur anthuJando. For ex- 
ample, the right of the International African Association to hoist a flag upon its 
steamboats upon the Lower Congo can be denied, while the English society, in pos- 
session of the rights of the Sultans of Brunei and Sooloo, implying the exercise of 
rights of .sovereignty, has raised its flag and the British admiralty has been authorized 
to recognize it. 

To return to the objection of certain publicists that a State alone can exercise 
sovereign rights. The free cities of ancient Rome aud of the empire of Germany (to 
distinguish it from the present empii"e) were not subjects of the Emperor, but vassals 
of the empire, and when the free city of Strasbourg capitulated, in the year 1681, 
the King of France received it under his royal protection, and it preserved all its 
privileges aud its magistrates with civil aud criminal jurisdiction, as a free republic, 
with a territorial zone, under the protection of France, until the French Revolution. 



28 OCCUPATION OF THE COXGG COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

What are the ohshiWes which delay the establishment of a system of free cities ou 
the banks of the Upper Cougo, aud which prevent the powers whose subjects have 
establishments ou the Lower Congo from coming to an tigreemeut as to an interna- 
tional protectorate of the river? There is a European power which arrogates to 
itself, in virtue of a discovery of the mouth of the river Cougo iu the year 1484, the 
sovereignty of all territory watered by this ris'er find its affluents. I do uot speak 
of the i)retensious of this power over all the territory of the west coast of Africa,, 
between 5^, 12", and b° south latitude — ])retensions which have been contested by 
France, by Holland, and even by England since the slave irade was abolished by con- 
veutious between the British aud Portuguese Governments. ISo long as the slave 
trade existed, everybody hunted negroes in common in the regions of the Congo. 
Since the slave trade was abolished the maritime xiowers of Europe have treated the 
pretensions of Portugal with courtesy, but not one has admitted them. 

I affirm, with all the respect due to the country of Prince Henry, the Navigator, 
that this is the condition of things upon the Congo, although the Portuguese Gov- 
ernment, in a circular dispatch, written in reply to a resolution of the Institute of the 
International Law, has asserted that its rights are not disputed. 

In support of this assertion of the Portuguese Government the author of the dis- 
patch cites an incident of the last Franco-Geiuian war. During the war a French 
corvette captured a German merchant vessel, the Hero, lying at anchor in Banana 
Creek, inside the mouths of the Congo. The circular dispatch states that the German 
Government requested the Portuguese Government to demand the rendition of the 
prize, as captured iu Portuguese waters ; but it does not say that tbe Portuguese Gov- 
ernment took any steps before the French prize courts, or that the French Govern- 
ment acceded thereto. The statement of facts stops there. Then, the dispatch says 
that "the news soon reached Europe that the French governor of Gaboon, the port 
into which the captor had carried his prize, had set at liberty the crew, and caused 
the German ship to be taken back to Banana Creek, where it remained at anchor till 
the close of the war." 

The author of the dispatch appears to me the victim of the paralogism, described 
by the phrase j90.si hoc, propter hoc, for he attempts to draw from these facts the "irre- 
sistible conclusion " that the governor of Gaboon recognized the waters of Banana 
Creek as Portuguese waters. It appears, ou the contrary, that the ship was set at 
liberty by the governor of Gaboon, motu suo propria, and iu no manner ou account of 
any demand of the Portuguese Government; aud the only legitimate conclusion from 
the premises is this : The governor of Gaboon recognized that the capture of the ship 
had been etfected in territorial waters, where, whether they belonged to a native 
King or to a Phtropean power, France had not the right as a belligerent power to 
capture the enemy's ships.* The governor of Gaboon conducted himself loyally with- 
out waiting special instructions from his Government. This fact, which the author 
of the dispatch cites as a proof of Portuguese sovereignty over the territories of the 
west coast of Africa, between 5°, 12°, and 8°, south latitude, comprising the mouths of 
the Congo, has absolutely no significance as an argument. 

Another event which the dispatch of the Portuguese Government recalls is that of 
the Ist of May, 1877, which had previously acquired considerable notoriety by the pub- 
lication of the correspondence between the Portuguese Government and the Govern- 
ment of her Britannic Majesty. Several old slave-traders, established at Punta da 
Lenha, were carrying on a regular and legal commerce with the natives, but, at the 
same time, were slave-owners. In consequence of an incendiary attempt upon a Dutch 
factory, the residents of Punta da Lenha made a "?io.(/ade" (drowning of several per- 
sons at the same time) of negroes in the river opposite Boma. The British consul, 
who resides ordinarily at Saint Paul de Loaudo, which city is under the jurisdiction 
of the Portuguese crown, wished to make inquiries at the sceue of the crime in regard 
to the summary execution of twenty-nine negroes by order of their masters, but he 
did not dare to disembark at Punta da Lenha because of the threa,ts of the inhabitants. 
Under these circumstances, the Portuguese Government conducted itself in a very 
proper manner. At the instance of Consul Hopkins, of Loando, tbe goveruor of the 
Portuguese province of Angola sent a gunboat to Punta da Lenha, and arrested a 
British subject named Scott, implicated in the noyade, and was perfectly willing to 
try the accused according to the laws of Portugal, with the consent of the English 
consul ; but the correspondence between the two governments shows that the English 
Government was unwilling to admit Portuguese sovereignty over the bS.uks of the 
Congo. It is surprising that the author of the circular dispatch should have cited 
this incident as indicating the recognition of Portuguese sovereignty by the English 
Government, when the correspondence presented to the British Parliament in regard 
to this matter proves precisely the reverse. Here, for example, are the terms of a 

* The Times of the 5th November, 1882, in which an English translation of the cir- 
cular dispatch of the Portuguese Government is published, says : "Unquestionably 
because the Government ^erceircrf that the capture had been made improperly." 



OCCUPATION OF THK CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA 29 

dispatch of Sir Julian Poucef'ort, inider socrctary of state, to tlie Eiiglisli consul at 
Loaudo, which closes the correspoiidence: 

"The territory in which these ontragcs have been committed has long been claimed 
by the Portuguese Goverumeut, and this claim is renewed in the correspondence with 
the Portuguese antliorities inclosed in your dispatches. Tier Majesty's Government, 
however, as you are aware, have always contest (m1 and opjxised tliat claim, and cannot, 
rlieref're, admit the jurisdiction of tlie PoitiigiK'se tribunals to deal with the case of 
-■Scott."* 

No one accuses Portugal of wishing to impede the free navigation of the Congo, but 
it is to be rcgietted that, being powerless to insure that navigation to its own subjects, 
it is unwilling to consent to a friendly agreement with the powers whose subjects 
have factories upon the north bank, to put the navigation of the river beyond risk of 
danger. I have said advisedly that Portugal is powerless to insure the navigation of 
the river to ifs 0'('» mibjecfs. I have already spoken of the tribes which inhabit the 
borders of Pirates' Bay, upon the north bank of the river, against whom the English 
commander, Hewitt, had to organize an expedition in 1875, because they had plun- 
<lered an English merchant ship and massacred the crew. But there is, on the south 
bank, a considerable tribe who practice xiiracy on a large scale, am! do not even respect 
Portuguese vessels. These pirates especially infest San Antonio, at the soutlieru ex- 
tremity of the month, in the innnediate neighborhood of the column of Point del Padron. 
The author of a book entitled "Four Years on the Congo," t published in Paris, de 
scribes an attack by these pirates upon a Portuguese brig. The account is interesting, 
but I will not now go into details. What it imports is, the powerlessness of the Portu- 
guese Government to suppress the piracy of this tribe and to punish the guilty ones. 
1 cite an extract from this work which givc-< the h'story of the Portuguese expedition 
sent to punish the Mussorangos wdio had attacked the Portuguese brig: 

"On the 15th of November two corvettes and the frigate 'La Guadiana' left Lo- 
audo. The Utile fleet, commanded by M. A''iegas de C , headed for the CoTigo. 

The commander hoped to surprise the negroes. Arrived at a place considered sacred, 
and which is called the ' Stone of the Fetish,' they aocliored, and M. Viegas himself, 
with one company, ascended the creek in a steam gunboat and etfected aiaiiding, 
which the savages endeavored at first to oppose; but soon afterwards, dislodged by 
the showers of grape shot from the frigate, moored a few cables' length only from the 
shore, they retired in good order. Meanwhile, the little band of whites, finding uo 
serious resistance, advanced. The corvettes shelled the villages in sight. Some 
groups of Mussorangos, who had stood firm till then, feeling themselves vanquished, 
fled iu every direction, returning and stopping, from time to time, behind trees to 
discharge their guns at the whites. The coiumander burned all the villages he found. 
That was all that could be done. It would not have been prudent to march at a ven.- 
turH into an unknown country in search of au unapproachable enemy, always fleeing. 
It was necessary to re-embark; the ships came back to Banana, where they remained 
some days, and then returned to Saint Paul." 

This is a very recent occurrence, which does not very well bear out the assertions 
of the Portuguese Government relative to the efficacy of its jurisdiction as remedy 
for the disorders of the Congo. 

" The Congo (says the author of the circular dispatch) and the territories border- 
ing its moutli are already the seat of an important commerce, and of European estab- 
lishments of diverse nationalities, but there is no security either for life or XJropertj^ 
uo police, no courts, nor any of the institutions so necessary to all civilized people, 
and which can only be established under a recognized and eftective jurisdiction. And 
such jurisdiction can only be exercised by Portugal, because no other nation possesses 
or claims any rights of sovereignty over these territories. "t 

I repeat, the good intentions of Portugal are not in dispute. What is wanting is 
energy and material power; and it is necessary to have these in order to civilize the 
country discovered by the agents of the International Association. Four centuries 
have elapsed since Diego Cam, a Portuguese cavalier, erected a column upon the 
Point del Padron, the end of the south bank of the river's m mth, in commemoration 
of the fact that a subject of the crown of Portugal had discovered the great river 
Congo. This same point is to-day in the hands of a native tribe, which not only does 
not recognize the sovereignty of P<jrtugal, but openly defies it. Nevertheless, the 
author of the circular finds much fault with the resnlution of the Institute of Inter- 
national Law, because that x'esolution implies, according to him, forgetfulness of the 
rights of Portugal. What rights '? There exist I'ights based upon the discovery of 
the country, but considering that the fl 'ets of Pharoah Neco, King of Egyi)t, made 
the circuit of Africa, we cannot admit that the legal discovery of the Congo was 

"Parliamentary Papers, Africa, No. 2, 1882, p. 83. 
t Paris, G. Charpentier & Co., 1883. 

I I quote the text of the circular as published in the Indepen'^ance Be'ge of the 7th 
November, 188 5. 



30 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUKTRY IN AFEICA. 

effected by Diego Cain. But rights founded upon the discovery of the country are 
only imperfect rights; occiipatioii shoukl follow,- within a reasonable time, to render 
them perfect; otherwise the discovery becomes inoperative, like an abandoned title. 
Has Portngal occupied both banks of the Congo to acquire possession of its waters ." 
Have we the proof of it ? On the contrary, the very territory where Cam erected this 
column is to-day in the power of a native tribe, who have always resisted Portu- 
guese sovereionty, and who openly claim to be (a thing almost incredible) the ene- 
mies of the human race {Iwstes Inimani (jeiieria). And, on the other hand, England, 
which pretends to no sovereignty over the waters of the Congo, has been obliged to 
land a force upon the north bank to chastise an act of piracy committed by the in- 
habitants of the creeks in the neighborhood of Banana. 

It is evident that very soon the problem of the free navigation of the Congo will 
assume such proportions that the solution cannot be longer deferred. Should this 
solution wait upon a state which u)) to now has only demonstrated its powerlessuess 
to civilize the countries on the south bank of the Lower Congo, its sovereignty over 
which is not disx)uted by any European state? 

London, ]Sovtmher -Zl, l«fc3. 



ARGUMENT OF PLOF. ARNTZ. 

Cdn indtpendent cliitfs of parage iribcs cede to private citizens the whole or part of their 
states, with the sovcrei(jn riijhis which pertain to them, conj ormably to the traditional cus- 
toms of the coil )i try f 

This question, as it is propounded, ])resents two aspects. It must be considered; 

I. From the point of view of the right of the one who cedes. 

II. From the point of view of the one to whom the cession is made. 



In examining this ({uestiou from the standpoint of international law, we must first 
ask if the chiefs of savage tfibes can, generally, make treaties, conventions, cessions 
of territories; in other words, if the tribes which they represent are considered as 
states, having the capacity to make international treaties, which would be respected 
as such by all civilized or non-civilized nations. 

From the fifteenth century till early in the nineteenth century, the rules of inter- 
national law were regarded as being to some extent an exclusive privilege of Chris- 
tian peoples, for the establishment of regular relations between them. With regard 
to pagan peoples, they were not considered as participating in the political com- 
munity which international law established between Christians; and it was only by 
Article VII of the treaty of Paris of the 30th of March, 1856, that '-the Sublime Porte 
was admitted " to ^participate in the advantages of the European concert." 

We can easily understand that Christian nations could not admit to participation 
in the advantages of international law the people of nations who did not recognize 
this law as binding upon themselves, and who did not practice its precepts. Publicists 
and moralists teach that in their relations v.ith Pagan and savage populations, Chris- 
tian sovereigns should always conduct themselves honestly, and observe the rules of 
justice, equity, and Christian morality. 

It would be too long to enter here into the details of the discussions "which the 
authors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had on the subject of the conduct 
of European uations in regard to the Indians. We shall limit ourselves to saying 
that the relations of the states of Europe with other nations had no fixed rules, that 
they varied much, according to the power and importance of the foreign nations, ac- 
cording to the communications more or less numerous wliich Europeans had with them^ 
and according to the manners and customs practiced by them.* 

Thanks to the progress of humanitarian ideas, of a better practice of Christian 
morality, and the greater influence of principles of international justice, feeble people, 
almost savage, although not possessed of the benefits of civilization, are no longer 
considered, in our days, as destined to serve as a mine for civilized nations to "work." 
All those having a human face, turned towards the heavens, are considered as mem- 
bers of the great human family, children of the common Father, animated by the 
same Divine breath, having the same destiny to accomplish, and meriting the respect 
due to human dignity. 

These ideas have prevailed with jurisconsults and publicists, have permeated their 
doctrines, and happily 'have guided their practices. Savage tribes, although living in 

*Heffter, par. 7, p. 14: "With respect to non-Christian states, which are not yet 
regularly admitted into the bosom of the European family, the application of the same 
law is entirely free, and founded upon a purely conventional reciprocity. Eelations 
with them are formed according to the exigencies of policy and morality." 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 31 

Tery imperfect comnuiuities, as well as their territories, are no longer regarded to-day 
as things without a master, and belonging to the first occupier, that is, to the first' 
comer stronger than themselves. Want of civilization can no longer serve as a pre- 
text to civilized nations to put them under subjection, or to control them by violence. 

The law of nations is a science still imperfectly molded or stereotyped, and espe- 
cially is it a science which ought not to be, and cannot be formulated a priori. Its 
fundamental principle is, no doubt, philosophy, but it has its positive base in the facts 
of history, and authoritative doctrine. 

What are the conditi. ns to enable a state to exist, as such, and to qualify it to 
treat ? 

"A certain number of men and families, who, being united, in a country, and having 
fixed their abode there, associate and submit themselves to a common chief, with the 
intention of providing for the safety of all, form a state," says Kliiber,* and to the 
same eliect, says G. F. de Marten : t 

" Sovereignty (continues Kliibert) in this extended sense consists in the ensemble 
of rights belonging to a state, independent as regards its ol)ject. It comprises, hist, 
the entire independence of the state in the face of fo eign nations; second, higiti- 
mate power of the Government or of the 'authority which the purpose of the state 
demands." 

The same author says : § 

"Sovereignty is acquired by a state either at its foundation or when it separates 
itself legitimately from tl)e dependence under which it was. To be valid, it (h)es not 
need to be recognized or (juaranteed by any foreign power whatever, provided its pos- 
session is not faulty {viciense)." 

It is useless to multiply extracts. The principles summarized by Kliiber on the 
sovereignty, the independence, and the equality of states, from the legal point of 
view, are equally professed by all authors. We will limit ourselves to the following: 
Helfrer, par. 15, W, pp. 32-34; par. 23, pp. 42, 43; par. 26, 27, pp. 47-49. Wheaton, 
vol.1, pp. 32,43. Vattel, lib. 1, chap. 1, sec. 4. W.E.Hall, International Law, par.. 
2, 4, pp. 115-20 ; par. 6-8, pp. 34-37; par. 9, 10, p. 39-42. Calvo, Droit International, 
par. 39-41, pp. 143-147. 

Tribes inhabiting determined territory, represented by their chiefs, form, therefore, 
independent states. 

From this the first consequence is that the territories which they occupy are not 
things without masters (res nuUius), and cannot be occupied by other states. It is- 
only territories tvithout master, that is to say, upon which no sovereign power is yet 
established that can be the object of occupation. 

As regards the right of occupation, see the following authors: 

" Christian people cannot rightfully take possession of lands which savages already 
really occupy," says George Frederick von Marten. || 

KliiberU says : "A state can acquire things which belong to no one [res nMius\ by 
occupation \^origtnal'\, and the goods of others by means of conventions, [derivative occu- 
pation.] * * * In order that the occupation may be legitimate, the thing itself 
should be susceptible of exclusive property and belong to no one. (A) The state 
should have the intention of acquiring the property thereof." 

In the note (A) the author says : " Property thus is acquired rightfully by an occu- 
pation without tlaw ; it is preserved by continuous possessi<m. In consequence no 
nation is authorized, no matter what its pretensions, especially if of a higher degree 
of culture, to seize upon the projierty of another nation. It cannot even take it from 
savages or nomads." - 

The author cites in support of this : Gunther, Volkerrechf, vol. 2, p. 10, et. seq. See 
also thfe beautiful and energetic passage from Heffter, Le Droit International Fiiblie, 
vol. 1, par. 70, p. 141, 142: " Droit d' Occupation." 

To give validity of occupation it is necessary that the property should be without 
master, and that the intention to acquire the domain should be joined to the fact of 
an effective taking possession. Let us examine each of the three conditions : 

1. Occupation is only to be applied to property which, although susceptible of be- 
ing possessed, has no master. It does not extend to persons who can only be the ob- 
ject of a submission, whether voluntary or forced. Occupation is to be applied nota- 
bly to countries and islands uninhabited or not entirely occupied; but no power on 
earth has the right to impo.se its laws upon wandering or even savage peojiles. Its 
subjects can seek to establish commercial relations with these latter, can remain 
among them, in case of necessity, can demand of them indispensable articles of pro- 

* Droits des gens moderue, par. 20. 

tEinleituug in das positive enropaische Volkerrecht, Gottingen, 1796, p. 1. 

; Droit des gens moderne, par. 21. 

^ Hid, par. 23. 

II Einleitung in das positive enropaische Volkerrecht, par. 31. 

H Droit des gens moderne de I'Europe, par. 25. 



32 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

visions, and eveu negotiate with them the voluntary cession of a portion of the ter- 
ritory, with the object of colonizing it. Nature, it is true, does not forbid nations to 
extend their empire upon the earth ; but it does not give the right to a single one 
among them to establish its dominion anywhere wherever it chooses to do it. The 
jorop«r/«r?^« of civilization, the development of commercial and industrial interests, 
ihe putting into activity of unproductive values, do not justify it either. All that 
can be accorded on the subject is, that in the interest of the preservation of the human 
kind, it may be permitted to nations to unite in order to open by common accord the 
ports of a country hermetically sealed to their commerce. 

See, 1o the same efi'ect, Bluntschli, " Droits des gens, codifi^," par. 20, p. 63. 

Similar citations could be multiplied. 

Communities of non-civilized tribes, forming according to the law of nations, as to- 
<lay admitted, independent States, the first logical conseqitence which follows is that 
these states cannot be acquired by reason of occupation by other states. K. second 
consequence which necessarily follows from the same premises is, that these states or 
their chiefs, can make international /rea/(>8 of every kind — treaties which have obliga- 
tory force for the contracting parties, and which should be respected by all other 
states, if they do not interfere with existing rights. 

We Avould remark here with Calvo* that "international treaties may be concluded, 
■even with nomadic peoples, having no territory of their own nor fixed domicile, when 
they have an expressed political organization and a common council by the interme- 
diary of their chiefs or their assemblies." In this category (adds the same author) 
may be classed the Bedouins, scattered over the deserts of Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and 
barbarous Africa, and the Turcomans, who wander over the plains of Central Asia." 

"There are conglomerated populations which do not compose a state. * * * 
But the nomads and the savages have, either among themselves or with civilized peo- 
ple, an international law which is observed equally with the international law of civ- 
ilized natione," say Funck, Brentano, and Sorel.t 

By still stronger reasoning the tribes composing states dwelling in determined ter- 
ritory can make international treaties. Savage African tribes, possessing determined 
territories, can malce all kinds of treaties. Their chiefs can therefore cede territory, iu 
whole or in part, to ivhom, we will see under No. 2. This rule, or rather this conse- 
quence, cannot be impeached in theory. 

Sovereignty of a state, in the sense of international law (says Khiber, "Droits des 
^ensmoderne de I'Europe," p. 22) consists essentially in independence of all foreign 
•control iu relation to the exercise of rights of sovereignty ; it ought by its nature 
•even to be exercised independently of the antiquity of the state, or the form of its 
constitution of government, or the order established for the succession to the throne, 
or the rank, title or state of its sovereign ; of the extent of its terrritory ; of its popu- 
lation, political importance, manners, religion, state of culture in general, the com- 
merce of its inhabitants," &c. 

And the same author, par. 127, says : 

"In regard to public domain, the state has, over the things which form part 
thereof, all rights of property, not only of exclusive possession and the right to enjoy 
it as_owner, but also that of disposing freely thereof. The conventions or arrange- 
ments which it may make in this respect, whether with its subjects or with foreign - 
•ers, are absolutely independent of other Governments. Nothing forbids it alienating 
its property, its putting it in pledge, or abandoning it. It has the capacity to acquire 
by accession. "t 

Without going back to antiquity, modern history, since the seventeenth century up 
to our own clays, furnishes us numerous examples of treaties, of cessions of territories, 
■&.C., concluded between civilized states on the one hand and savage tribes on the 
other. It is sufiScient to recall the most noted cases: 

In 1G20 the English Puritans embarked on board the Mayflower, after establishing 
themselves in the northern part of Virginia, concluded with the chief or sachem of the 
Indians, Massasoit, a treaty of friendship, the most ancient treaty concluded by New 
England. § 

In 1639 the founders of the colony of New Hampshire concluded with the Indians 
conventions for the purchase'of land situated between the Piscataqua and the Merri- 
mac, and there established the town of Exeter. || 

Later William Penn made treaties with chiefs of Indians. It is useless to cite here 
the numerous treaties between the difierent States of New England and the chiefs of 
Indian tribes. 



* See Charles Calvo, " Mantiel dn droit international public et priv6 " (par. 49, p. 85); 
also, his "Droit international theorique et pratique," vol. 1, p. 320. 

tPr6cis du droit des gens; Paris, lrt77, No. X, p. 23. 

X See on this point, International Law, by Edward W. Hall, M. A., barrister-at-laW;. 
Oxford, 1880, par. 35, p. 100 

§ Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. 1, p. 342-350. 

II earlier, History of ihe American People, vol. 1, p. 300. 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 33 

Wheaton * recounts that some of these Indian tribes have recognized by conventions 
that tliey held their existence entirely at the will of the State within the limits of 
which they resided, and that others preserved a limited sovereignty and the absolute 
dominion of the territory inhabited by them ; and he adds that by two decisions of 
the Supreme Court of the United States, in 1831 and 1832, the Cherokee Nation, resid- 
ing within the limits of the State of Georgia, are held to constitute a distinct political 
society ; that numerous treaties made by this nation with the United States recognize 
it as a people capable of maintaining relations of peace and war; that the English 
Government, having preceded the United States, bought their lands by contracts of 
sale, freely assented to, and never forced them to make sale against their will. 

Let us pass from America to Africa and Asia. In the course of the last fifty years 
England has concluded with the chiefs of countries adjacent to the Congo thirteen 
treaties, of which we mention specially two, one concluded the 11th of February, 1853, 
with the King and chiefs of Cabinda, the other concluded the 20th June, 1854, with 
divers chiefs of the river Congo. 

The treaty concluded by Mr. Savorgnan de Brazza with the King Makoko is of 
public notoriety. 

To terminate the series of historical documents in support of the theory that chiefs 
of savage tribes can validly make treaties and cessions of territories in full sover- 
eignty, let lis recall further the recent treaties of the 29th of December, 1877, and the 
22(1 ot January, 1878, by which the Sultans of Brunei and of Sulu, in the island of 
Borneo, ceded a part of their territory to Mr. Alfred Dent and Baron Overbeck. 

If, from the point of view of international law, it is indisputable that no State, 
civilized or not, has the right to arbitrarily trouble the chiefs of savage tribes in the 
possession of their sovereignty, the same prohibition applies to those to whom they 
have conceded, whoever they may be. 

The cessionaires have the same rights as the ceders. Under what pretext could 
another state trouble them ? Their cession is valid, and thus all motive, or even all 
pretext for trouble is wanting; or, the cession is null, according to the law of nations,' 
and then the sovereign who made the cession has, in right, preserved all his sover- 
eignty, and no other state has the right to trouble it, or even to intervene to make 
good the nullity of the cession. 

Let us take the second question. Can a cession be made to a private citizen? 

We are happy to be able to abridge this part of our work by referring to the arti- 
■cle, "The Free Navigation of the Congo," published by our eminent colleague of the 
Institute, Sir Travers Twiss, in the sixth number of the Revue du Droit International, 
for 1883. 

It is true that Sir Travers Twiss occupies himself with the question whether these 
associations which are not organized as States can exercise sovereign rights, rather 
tban whether these rights of sovereignty can be conceded to private individuals; but 
the argument which he invokes in support of his thesis applies in great part to 
cessions made to individuals. 

When writers establish their point of dej^arture to arrive at a demonstration they 
■commence often by saying : 

"It is an established principle," &c. Or, "It is a principle of law," Sec. And 
they employ this form when their jirinciples are the most contestable. In the article 
we have just cited. Sir Travers Twiss mentions an article in the Eevue de GeographS, 
of Paris,+ in which Mr. Delvand says : " It is a principle of law that states alone can 
exercise sovereign rights, and that no private company can have them." He (Sir 
Travers Twiss) adds, with reason, that this proposition is affirmed in too absolute a 
manner, and he proves conclusively by historical facts that his criticism is just. 

Doubtless an individual, as such, and a private society, in that capacity, are not sov- 
ereigns, and exercise no act of sovereignty. This needs no demonstration. But, in 
virtue of what principle of international law is it sought to be shown that one who is 
a private citizen to-day cannot become a sovereign to-morrow, and be in possession 
of the plenitude of sovereignty ? Such a principle does not exist. No author of in- 
ternational law has ever sustained it, and all the history of humanity, from the 
earliest down to modern times, denies it. 

Individuals can become sovereigns, and exercise the rights of sovereigns, in two ways: 

First. By creating themselves into a state — that is to say, by establishing them- 
selves upon a territory which belongs to them, and forming themselves into a commu- 
nity with a regular government, and legal organs of public power — in a word, with 
all the constituent elements of a state. t 

* Elements of International Law (Fr. tr.), vol. 1, p. 50. 

t Vol. 12, p. 12. 

t See authorities cited, p. 4, supra. 

S. Rep. 393 3 



34 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

Most of the states of antiquity, according to legends and traditions, or positiTe 
historical information, have been created in no other way. ' ^^'-^ 

The states of the Middle Ages had the same origin. The Franks, the Visigoths, 
the Ostrogoths, the Bnrgundians, and others, were only nomadic peoples, composed 
of chiefs who, in the eyes of international law, were only individuals, hut who 
founded states. 

The Italian republics of the Middle Ages were only municipalities without inter- 
national sovereignty, and they have become sovereign states. Simple individuals, 
poor fishermen, caused the republic of Venice to rise from the waves of the Adriatic 
and to become its queen. 

Almost all the States of New England, in America, have been founded by in- 
dividuals.* 

States, to exist, have no need to be recognized bj' other states. Those who have 
founded them are the sovereigns, and therefore have the right to exercise the rights of 
sovereignty in so far as this exercise has not been delegated to an authority instituted 
under the constitution of the state. 

And a revolution which has for result the detaching from a state of one of its 
parts, is it not at the commencement the work of individuals ? And those individ- 
uals, if they unite themselves in their enterprise, can erect a simple province or prov- 
inces into a new and sovereign state, and exercise then sovereign rights. 

And, if to-day, simple individuals should establish themselves on a desert island^ 
or on territory unoccupied by another state, they can establish a new state, with all 
the rights of sovereignty. We have seen Texas thus formed. 

Second. An individual can become sovereign by succeeding to another sovereign 
in the exercise of the sovereignty of a state. From a private individual he becomes 
a sovereign. 

The question whether a private individual can accept a sovereignty when the in- 
terior laws of his state forbid him is outside of our subject, and we do not treat of it. 

Philip, Duke of Anjou, great grandson of Louis XIV, was, from the point of view 
of international law, a simple individual. After the death of Charles II, by the 
treaty of Utrecht the states belonging to the Crown of Spain were dismembered, 
and Philip V was recognized as the King of Spain, and acquired part of the states of 
the Spanish monarchy. Other examples might be cited. 

Wheu a prince was elected King of Germany he became a sovereign from a private 
individual that he was. 

Or, again, when a chief of an African tribe, forming a sovereign state, cedes to an 
individual in full sovereignty a part of his state, does he do other than to call another 
person to the exercise of rights of sovereignty over one part of his state, erected 
into a new state? What difference is there between the case of a European prince 
who is called as sovereign to a state, or part of a state, and that where an African 
chief calls upon an individual to exercise sovereign powers over part of his state ? 
In the fact undoubtedly there is much difference, but in laiv there is none ; and that 
is the question. It is a question of law {droit) we have to study here. 

It is even possible that an individual may remain a subject of the state to which he 
belongs, and maybe the sovereign of another country. The sovereign, therefore, can 
have a double personality. Thus, Ernest Augustus, and George V, Dukes of Cum- 
berland, were subjects of Queen Victoria and peers of England at the same time 
Kings of Hanover. In 1787 the sovereign bishop of the principality of Osnabruck, 
the Duke of York, sat as a peer of England in the House of Lords.! 

The question which has been laid down at the head of this opinion is a novel one. 
It has not been forseen or treated in works of international law. Many authors treat 
a question which touches upon this one, but which differs from it a good deal. They 
ask if an individual can make in his own name an act of occupation of a territory 
newly discovered without a master. They reply negatively to this question, and, in 
their line of ideas they are right ; for those who discover new territories are almost 
always navigators, traveling in a public ship, often public officers or individuals, 
commissioned by their governments — agents of the government — and they cannot 
occupy in their own name. 

A recent event furnishes a powerful supjtort to the theory that rights of sovereignty 
can be ceded to individuals, namely, the treaty between the Sultans of Borneo and 
Sulu and Mr. Dent and Baron Overbeck, who, in their turn, have ceded their rights 
to a private British company, the "British North Borneo Company." This fact has 
importance in itself, as a new event which enlarges juridical science; but what 
especially gives strong support to our thesis is the manner in which this event has 
been appreciated, be it iuferentially or explicitly, by several governments, by juris- 
consults, and by eminent statesmen whose oxiinious can be invoked as having au- 
thority. 

* See the histories of Bancroft and Carlier. 

tHeffter, "Le droit international public," par. 52, p. 104. 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 35 

The opinions of jurisconsults and publicists are ranged among tlie sources of inter- 
national law.* 

In the first place, the Governments of Holland and of Spain, "who believed them- 
selves most directly affected by the concessions, accorded by the two Sultans of 
Borneo, did not deny the princijjle of the capacity of individuals or of associations to 
have ceded to them rights of sovereignty, but they raised reclamations against these 
treaties by invoking rights ])reviously acquired. 

Let us reproduce here the ])assage written by M. de Laveley upon the discussion 
to which the giving of a charter of incorporation to the British North Borneo Com- 
pany gave rise in the English Parliament : t 

"Certain members of the left, adversaries of what is called in England the imperial 
policy, that is to say, of the policy which seeks extension of territory and of influence, 
criticised the measure because it created a new responsibility for the country ; but no 
one contested the right of individuals or of the company — rights resulting f) cm treaties 
concluded with indigenous chiefs. In the reply made in tlie House of Commons by 
the attorney-general. Sir Heory James, we read: 

'"These rights were conceded to the company and became legally its property. 
The Government of Her Majesty had no power to enter into a general examination of 
the propriety of the occupation of Borneo by a commercial company. It would have 
been an act of confiscation if, after what had happened, the Government had inter- 
fered, and had endeavored to take from it the rights which it had acquired. * * * 
The only thing the Government had to decide was whether or not it was necessary to 
leave the company to act without impediment and entirely without control.' 

"Mr. Gladstone was not less afiSrmative. Said he, at the same sitting : 

"'The charter has not conferred upon the company a single iirivilege above and 
beyond what it had already acquired by virtue of a title suliicieut to enable it to ex- 
ercise all these powers.' 

"From the explanations given by Lord Granville in the House of Lords, the 13th 
March, 1S82, it appears that if Holland and Spain have protested agaimst the rights 
invoked by the Overbeck-Dent Company, it was because of anterior rights vrhich these 
states pretend to have over the northern part of Borneo ; but, no more than Germany, 
formally consulted in the matter by the British Government, have they raised any 
doubt as to the capacity of individuals and companies to obtain from iion-civilized 
sovereigns the cession of rights implying the exercise of sovereignty. This capacity 
also was not denied by the members on the opi^ositiou side of the House of Commons." 

Thus, the opinion of four Governments, the opinion of two English ministers. Lord 
Granville and Mr. Gladstone, and of the attornc^y-geueral, Sir Henry James, that of 
Sir Travers Twiss, and of M. de Laveleye, to which we would add the considerations 
developed in the open letter addressed, the 23d April, 1883, by a member of the Afri- 
can International Association to the Courrier des fitats-Unis, form an assemblage of 
authorities of a nature to fortify ns in our conviction if we had any doubts. 

We conclude with these observations : 

1. It is evident that if some powers have raised against similar concessions, made 
by chiefs of savage tribes to individuals and associations, reclamations founded upon 
rights previoHshi acquired, there would be ground to submit these pretensions to serious 
examination, or perhaps they might be sul)mitted to arbitration, as Great Britain and 
Portugal, in 1875, submitted to the arbitration of the President of the French Repub- 
lic, M. MacMahon, the contest in regard to certain lands situated on the bay of Dela- 
goa. 

2. Neiv sovereignties, at the head oftvhich are individuals or associations, the concessionaries 
of the chiefs of savage tribes, exist of themselves, of their own right and their own strength, 
without having need of the recognition of other states. (See Kliiber, par. 23 ; Heffter, par 
23, p. 42, and par. 51, p. 104 ; Bluutschli, par. 28 and 38 ; and all the authors.) 

It depends upon the convenance of other states to recognize or not to recoo-nize 
these new sovereignties. But whatever may be their determination in this respect, 
the want of recognition does not give them the right to act as if these sovereigntie.s 
did not exist, and to consider their territories susceptible of occupation. 

3. According to the practice of international law, at this day, the recognition of 
one to whom sovereignty has been conceded, as a sovereign, can even follow of itself, 
in certain cases. Almost all governments, especially Great Britain and the United 
States of Americal have adopted the rule of considering de facto governments as le- 
gitimate, as far as they themselves are concerned. (See Heffter, par. 51, 53, pp. 101- 
105.) 

Let us. suppose a European nation had concluded a treaty of friendship or com- 
merce with the chief of a savage tribe, inhabiting a fixed territory. This treaty is 



* Wheat on. vol. 1, par.. 12, p. 25; Heffter par. 8, p. 16. 
t " Revue de droit international," vol. xi, p. 258, 259. 
\ See manifesto of President Monroe, of December 2, 1823. 



36 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

supposed to be coucluded, and is effectively concluded with tlie State which the 
chief represents. The chief had ceded his rights of sovereignty to a European indi- 
vidual or a European association, who are j)ut in real possession of the sovereignty. 
Could the European nation deny the legitimacy of this new government if it was a 
government de facto, according to international usages ? No. At least, Great Brit- 
din and the United States would recognize it, and probably other states also. And 
if the preceding chief had been displaced by internal revolution — which can break 
out among blacks as among whites — and if the black chief had ceded his sovereignty 
to another negro, a relation or even a stranger to his family, would that be a reason 
for refusing recognition to the new sovereign ? And if the chief of the tribe had 
ceded his sovereignty to a white man, in place of choosing for his successor a black 
man, or an association composed of whites, certainly the difference of color could 
not be a reason for refusing recognition to the new sovereign. 

Thus it is seen that in wandering away from true and simple principles difficulties 
of every kind are encountered. 

Therefore I am of opinion that independent chiefs of savage tribes can validly cede 
to a private individual the whole or part of their state, with the sovereign rights 
which belong to them, and conformably to the traditional customs of the country. 

Brussels, December 15, 1883. 

OTHER AUTHORITIES CITED. 

[Extract from the "Droit International Codifl6," by M. Bluntschli.] 

(Page 68, paragraph 35): A new state has the right to enter into the international 
association of states, and to be recognized by other ijowers when its existence cannot 
be put in doubt and is assured. It has the right because it exists, because interna- 
tional law unites existing states by common laws and principles based upon justice 
and humanity. 

1. Recognition by other sovereign states is a voluntary act on a part of these latter. 
It is not, nevertheless, an absolutely arbitrary act, because international law unites^ 
even against their will, diverse existing states, and makes of them a kind of political 
association. 

The opinion is frequently advanced by the older publicists that it depends upon 
the good jjleasnre of each state to recognize or not to reorganize another, outside of 
the necessary and absolute line of international law. If this law rested solely upon 
the arbitrary will of states, it would not be just that it should be simi)ly a conven- 
tional law. 

(Page 164:) A state has evidently the right to constitute itself without the ratifi- 
•cation of another state. This would be the case when emigrants, for example, found 
■a State upon an uninhabited island, as did the Norwegians in Iceland in the middle 
ages. A number of new states of North America were founded by individuals ; it 
was only later that they were recognized by England, and to this day, they proceed 
in the same manner in the United States. If new states can in this way constitute 
themselves, by still stronger reasoning analogous extensions of territory already ex- 
isting should be recognized. 

[rrom "Elements of International Law," by "Wbeaton.] 

(Page 32, Fr. ed. :) The international sovereignty of a state does not, in any degree, 
depend upon its recognition by other states. A new state springing into existence, 
does not require the recognition of other states to confirm its internal sovereignty. 
The existence of a state de facto is sufficient, in this respect, to establish the sover- 
eignty dejure. It is a state because it exists. 

[From Vattel, "Le Droit des Gens," vol. 1, page 489, par. 206.] 
ANOTHER MANNER OF ACQUIRING THE SOVEREIGNTY OF A FREE COUNTRY. 

If free families, scattered over an independent country, unite to form themselves 
into a nation or a state, they acquire the sovereignty over the whole state which they 
inhabit, for they possess already the domain ; and since they wish to form a ijolitical 
society and to establish a public authority to which all will owe obedience, it is quite 
manifest that their intention is to confer upon this public authority the right of sov- 
ereignty of the whole country. 

[From Hefffcer, " Le Droit International Public de I'Europe."] 

(Pages 32 and 33:) The existence of a state supposes the following conditions, to 
wit: 
I, A society capable of existing by itself and independently. 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 37 

II. A collective will regularly organized, or a public authority charged with the 
direction of society for the end which we have just indicated. 

III. A permanent status of society, the natural base of a free and permanent devel- 
opment, and which depends essentially on the fixity of the tenure of real estate and 
the intellectual and moral tendencies of its members. 

We regard as idle the questions discussed by the schools, such as, What is the num- 
ber of persons necessary to form a state? or, If one or three persons are 8uf36cient? 
The distinctive characteristics of a state which we have just indicated sufficiently 
answer these quesfions. 

(Page 42:) A state exists de facto so soon as jt unites the necessary elements indi- 
cated above : that is to say, will, united to the indisijensable means and strength to 
defend its independence. 

(Page 43:) The entry of a new state upon the political scene depends in no wise 
upon an express preliminary recognition by foreign powers. It is fully accomplished 
the day when it commences to exist. On the other hand, political reasons alone may 
decide foreign powers to recognize or enter into direct relations with it. Recogni- 
tion only confirms what legally exists by admitting the new member into the grand 
European family. 

[From the "Commentary upon the Elements of International Law, and History of the Progress of In- 
ternational Law," by "William Beach Lawrence.] 

(Page 162 :) It is not necessary that there should be a determined number of persons 
to form a state. 

(Page U7 :) Texas was recognized by England in 1839, when its population was not 
more than 60,000 souls. Lord Palmerstou said on that occasion to Mr. O'Connell 
" that the principle of the Government was to recognize every state which had a de 
facto independence." 



new york chamber of commerce. 

Department op State, 

Washington, January 23, 1884. 
Sir : I have the honor to inclose for the consideration of your committee a copy of 
resolutions adoi)ted by the chamber of commerce of the State of New York, on the 
10th instant, in regard to securing to American citizens free commercial intercourse 
along the valley of the Congo, &c., and of a letter communicating the same. 
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 

FRED'K T. FRELINGHUYSEN. 
Hon. John F. Miller, 

Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, Senate: 

[Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, founded A. D., 1768.] 

New York, January 11, 1884. 
Dear Sir: Pursuant to instructions of the chamber of commerce I herewith inclose 
a copy of resolutions adopted by the chamber at a meeting held yesterday, in regard 
to securing to American citizens free commercial intercourse along the valley of the 
Congo, &c., and to which your attention is respectfully asked. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect, vour obedient servant, 

GEORGE WILSON, 

Secretary. 
Chester A. Arthur, 

President of the United States, Washington, D. C. 

[Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York. Founded A. D. 1768.] 

At an adjourned meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, held January 10, 1884, the 
following resolutions, presented by Mr. A. A. Low, were adopted : 

Whereas, the President of the United .States has, in his recent message, called at- 
tention to the fact that the rich and populous valley of the Congo is now being opened 
to commerce by the International African Association, and has especially dwelt upon 
the interest, for the purposes of trade and commerce that we have, as a people, in the 
neutrality of that valley, free from the interference or political control of any one 
natiou: Therefore, 

Be it resolved, As the opinion of this chamber that it is incumbent upon the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, through its accredited representative, to apprise the 
Portuguese Goveriujipnt that it will not recognize, but denies the right of the latter to 
i nterfere with the I'ree navigation of the Congo ; that the discovery of this great water- 



38 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

way into the interior of the center of Africa is not due to Portugal, but was the dis- 
covery of an explorer in the interest of no one nationality: and that tlie entry, 400 
years ago, into the mOuth of the Congo, by the Portuguese, not having been followed 
up by actual and continued occupation, can give that nation no territorial right to 
the river, or to the countries upon its banks. 

Resolved, That the recognition by the Government of the United States of the flag 
of the Interuatioual African Association, now extending over twenty-two settlements, 
in the heart of Africa, will be but an acknowledgment of the fact that that organ- 
ization, under rights ceded to it by African chiefs of independent territories; is exer- 
cising rule and authority over a large part of Africa in the j)rotection of life and 
property, the extinguishment of the slave trade, the facilitating of commercial inter- 
course, and other attributes of sovereignty : and that it be recommended to the Pres- 
ident to send an accredited agent of the Government to the Congo, to confer with that 
association in the adopting of such measures as may secure to American citizens free 
commercial intercourse along the course of that river, and through the various settle- 
ments or stations established by the association. 

A true copy. 

JAS. M. BROWN, 

[SEAL.] GEORGE WILSON, 

Secretary. 



Extract from a letter of Mr. Latrobe, president of the American Colonization Society, in reference to 
the first establishment of a colony and government in] 

LIBERIA. 

I have just hunted up and read the Congo article in the Herald of the 16th 
February. As a law argument, it is conclusive. So far as the United States are 
concerned, does not Liberia settle the question ? Had it not been for Mr. Monroe's 
construction of the act of Congress in regard to recaptured Africans, there might 
have been no Liberia. Obliged to return slaves rescued by our cruisers from the 
slave-ships to Africa, he seems to have bethought him of the American Colonization 
Society, then struggling for life, after disheartening failures to establish a colony for 
free negroes from the United States on that continent; and, adopting the society as 
his agent, and the society's agent as his own, he furnished the money that enabled 
the society to fit out and send to Africa the ship Elizabeth, which landed its emi- 
grants at Memona, then Cape Mesurada, a spot that had been previously selected by 
Captain Stockton, United States Navy, on the voyage of exploration which the Presi- 
dent had authorized for the purpose. The laud was purchased from the native kings, 
under just such treaties as Stanley has now been making, and a place was thus 
obtained by a benevolent society in the United States to which our Government has 
since sent all recaptured African slaves, a society which adopted a flag, established 
a form of Government, and which continued by its agents to manage public atiairs 
until it transferred the rights obtained from the natives, governors or chiefs, to the 
present republic of Liberia, which you know all about. 

And, when the colonists attempted to enforce their customs regulations agaiust 
British traders within their boundaries, Mr. Fox, then British Minister, made a "fuss," 
and there was a correspondence with Mr. Upshur, Secretary of State, which, if you 
had time to go over it, would be found not uninteresting. But there was no question 
about the right of the colonists, or rather the society in the first instance, and after- 
wards the republic, as derived from the aboriginal owners of the soil. 

I have directed Mr. Coppinger, the Secretary of the American Colonization Society, 
to call on yoii with a statement made to Mr. Evarts, when the difficulty with England 
about the northwest boundary of Liberia arose, and in which the whole matter of 
native deeds or treaties is discussed. 

Subsequently to the founding of Liberia, the State of Maryland appropriated 
~"0,000 to founding the Colony of Lubyland, in Liberia, at Cape Palmas. I had much 
to do with this. The State Society, of which I was President, sent an expedition 
with emigrants, in 18.34, who carried with them a bill of rights and an ordinance for 
their temporary government ; and, a purchase by treaty from the native kings having 
been made, established themselves at Cape Palmas. Presbyterian missionaries went 
along. They employed a colonist as a teacher, who, being fined for not attending 
parade as a colonist, caused a disturbance that brought the Secretary of the American 
Board of Foreign Missions to Baltimore, who denied the right of the Colonization 
Society to interfere with the servants of the mission. I insisted tliat the society was 
de jure eide facto the sovereign by transfer from the native king, and that the mission 
servant was bound to obey the agent of the colony in the exercise of his authority 
under the ordinance quite as much as if he had been summoned and fined in England. 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 39 

Mr. Anderson, the secretary, after a full discussion, aduaitted this to V)e true, and the 
mission was removed to the Gaboon. 

In the boundary question, which Mr. Frelinghuysen knows all about, the only point 
was the sufficiency of the deeds or treaties with the kings ; no dispute as to their right 
to convey, if properly exercised, was made. 

So far, then, as the United States maybe interested in the question, has not our ex- 
perience, as I have attempted to narrate it, as briefly as I could, sufficiently satisfied us? 



EXTRACTS FROM LORD M.^YO'S "DE REBUS AFRICA.NUS." 

We have now arrived at Banana Creek, in latitude 6° S., at the mouth of the Congo, 
where the principal trading houses are the following : The Dutch Company, of Rot- 
terdam, a large, long-established, and wealthy association ; the Congo and Central 
Africa Company, limited, of Liverpool, which it must be remembered is essentially 
an English company, carried ouwith English capital; and Danmas, Berand& Co., of 
Paris. Very nearly all the principal ground at Banana Creek is occupied by those 
three firms, and a little higher up the creek are two small stores, one belonging to a 
Spaniard named Jose Del Valla, an old slave trader, and a man of very bad reputa- 
tion for his well-known inhumanity towards the niggers. This man does a small 
trade in ivory, and is associated with a Portuguese, Azevedo, also an old slave dealer, 
hearing a very similar character. These two traders sometimes hoist the Spanish flag 
and at other times the Portuguese. The trade they do is of no importance. The 
other store belongs to a man named De Souza, who trades for Messrs. Hut ton and 
Cookson, of Liverpool. These are all the trading houses existing at Banana Creek. 
The Baptist mission some time ago were permitted by Danmas, Berand & Co. to 
build a house on some laud belonging to that firm; but lately the French house sold 
the ground to the Belgian International Association, under the management of Mr. 
Stanley, and they have requested the Baptist Mission to evacuate the ground.- 

I Extract from letter.] 

''March, 1882. 
"There are no special statistics of the Congo trade, but it is known that in good 
seasons the Congo has exported about thirty thousand tons of African produce, the 
greatest part to England and Holland. It is also known that no less than two and a 
half millions sterling of English manufactured goods find their way to the Congo and 
district, and Portugal has not imported or exported to the Congo one single ton; in 
fact she has no trade of any kind in all the neutral territory from Kinserabo down to 
Kabenda, nor at the Congo." 

As to the Belgian International Association, the following correspondence may be 
of interest as showing the status and position of the association: 

Geographical Society of Lisbon. 
I. 

Sir: The discussion which has been raised by the recent conferences and letters of 
Mr. Savorgoan de Brazza, and the character of certain statements which have been 
made, directly attacking Portuguese rights aud dealing a blow at historical and geo- 
graphical recognised and established facts, oblige the National Portuguese Committee, 
as well as the Geographical Society by which it was founded, to occupy itself on this 
question and to adopt such an attitude as will be consistent with the interests and 
rights of the nation we have the honor to represent. ** » « You are i>robably 
aware that the parallels b'^ 12' and 18" S. ba'^^e for centuries determined the limits of 
Portuguese dominion on the western coast of Africa. You are also aware that several 
countries have agreed to the generous plan of the King of the Belgians, for the creation 
of an International African Association, of a purely philanthropic and civilizing char- 
acter, and excluding absolutely aud formally all ideas of politics. It is exactly this 
fact, we think, which asserts the internationality of the African Association, and they 
have adopted as a proof of their character a special baouer for their explorations. 

In view of the duties devolving on us and the information which it is essential for 
ns to have, I have the honor to beg you will announce the following (i[uestions as .soon 
as possible for the information of the Geographical Society at their next meeting, 
when they will decide upon the line of conduct they intend to adopt. 

1st. Are Messrs. Stanley aud Savorguan de Brazza to be considered as the explorers 
of the International African Association, and as such to be quite subordinate to the 
purely scieutific and humanitarian intentions of the said association, excluding abso- 
lutely all individual ideas and all political mission or authority ? 

2d. Are these gentlemen authorized by the International Association, or with the 



40 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

knowledge and sanction of the same, to display on their expeditions or at their sta- 
tions any national tlag, or to effect in the name of any country treaties and compacts 
of a political nature ? 

3d. Does the International Association (which has refused to accept any political 
character or authority) undertake the responsibility of manifestoes, intrigues, and in- 
tentions of such nature, on the part of its explorers, towards the native populations 
and other people ? 

In the interest of this cause, which is common to us all, so long as it is maintained 
in its original noble principles, and praying for you to excuse our importunity, and 
awaiting your information, we beg youysir^ to accept the assurance of our esteem 
and high consideration. 

(From the first secretary, Luciano Coroleiro, to the secretary-general of the Inter- 
national African Association.) 

Lisbon, October 13, 1882. 

II. 

African International Association, 

Brussels, October 25, 1882. 

Sir : I will not delay in answering the questions you have put to me in your letter 
of the 13th of October. 

1st. As far as the International African Association knows, M. de Brazza had a 
mission from the French committee of the Association, and grants from the French 
executive. Stanley, on the contrary, is in the service of the International Committee 
of Science, who have commissioned him to found scientific and halting stations on 
the Congo, and also to furnish them with any elements of study likely to farther any 
enterprise in that country. 

2d. The flag of the Association is the only one that is hoisted over the stations 
Stanley has established. Belgium, as a state, does not wish to possess either a prov- 
ince or even an inch of territory in Africa. 

3d. The Association holds to its published rules, and its line of conduct is regulated 
by the same. 

I profit by this occasion, sir, to assure you of mv highest consideration. 

The secretary-general, STEANCH. 

We T^ill now imagine ourselves proceeding up the river Congo. The next place 
we come to after Banana Creek is Quissanga, on the left bank, where the Congo and 
Central African Company have a trading house. 

A little further, on the right bank, is Cassala, and then on the left bank Chiauga, 
opposite which is Embomba, at each of which places there is also a trading factory 
belonging to the Congo and Central African Trading Company. 

At Embomba there are several small places belonging to the Dutch Company, the 
Congo Company, and Danmas, Berand & Co., and also some very small huts occu- 
pied by Portuguese trading with the above-mentioned three firms. 

Hutton & Cookson, of Liverpool, and the Belgian International Association have 
houses here, and a Portuguese, named Rosa, a runaway from Loanda three years 
ago, for being implicated in a forgery of Loanda bank-notes, has a store and trades 
with the natives, afterwards selling the produce to the foreign houses. This trade, 
however, is of no importance. 

Twenty-four miles above Embomha, at Mussuca, there are three or four stores in 
different places, also chiefly belonging to the houses already mentioned, and the only 
further place of importance below the Yellala Falls is Vivi, 16 miles from Mussuca, a 
station of the Belgian International Association, the last point that small steamers 
now attain on this reach of the river, as the current formed by the Yellala falls, some 
short distance up, prevents their going any further. 

On the next reach of the river the Belgian International Association have estab- 
lished the station Isaugila, 31 miles from Vivi. 

We now reach Manyauga, 80 miles from Vivi, then Lutet^, and then Stanley Pool, 
where Leopoldville, 135 miles from Mauyanga, the headquarters of the Belgian Inter- 
national Association, is established. 

Ibahia Nhouton is the next station of the Belgian Association, and last of all Bolobo, 
which is 480 miles from the mouth of the Congo, and has only just been founded, and 
was reached by the little steamer Entrant, which little vessel had been carried up by 
porters and put together and launched in the upper waters of the Congo. 

We now see that, up to the latest information from " the coast," Bolobo is the further- 
most settled point in the upper waters of the Congo, and it is undoubted how greatly 
this trade has developed, and how the Congo has been opened up, first by Stanley, 
then by De Brazza, and also by English and Dutch capital, to the almost total exclu- 
sion of the Portuguei^e, whose rule and exactions bring misery and slavery to all parts 
of this vast continent wherever they put their heel down. The Portuguese power and 
prestige in Southwest Africa has been on the decline since Portugal became annexed 
to Spain in 1580, until their power in the Congo now is almost ml. The second part 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 41 

of this pamphlet deals with the Portuguese colonies and possessions, and from that it 
"Will be seen with what a dog-in-the-manger spirit they have carried on their govern- 
ment. Therefore, to recapitulate, the interests represented in the Congo are these,. 
taking them in order according to the amount of capital which each nation has em- 
barked in the Congo, viz : England, Holland, Belgium, and France. I do not mention 
Portugal because, as will be seen from the remarks under the head of Banana Creek, 
they have no real interest in the Congo. 

Having now taken my readers right up the Congo to its furthermost civilized sta- 
tion, we will now imagine ourselves once more at IBanaua Creek. We are now, after 
leaving the mouth of the Congo, in territory which is independent, but which is 
claimed by Portugal, and still proceeding south in the English steamer. 

The next stop is at Moculla, a few trading houses belonging to A. Conguy Aiue, 
Danmas, Berand & Co., and J. McFarlane are here on an open beach. 

We now halt at Ambrizzette, where there are trading houses carried on by Hatton 
».t Cookson, A. Conguy Aine, Danmas, Berand & Co., and the Congo and Central 
African Trading Company, and Taylor Logland, of Glasgow. 

At Mussera, A. Conguy Aine, Danmas, Berand & Co., are established. 

Next, Kinsembo, another trading station on a sandy beach, the houses of which be- 
long to Taylor, Logland, Danmas, Berand & Co., Stewart & Douglas, and A. Conguy 
Aine. 

About ten and a half miles south of Kinsembo is the mouth of the little river Loge 
(lat. 70° 51' S.), at present the northern boundary of the Portuguese ferritorij. 

Beyond this limit our men-of-war have strict orders not to allow the Portuguese 
Government to hoist any Hag or exercise any sovereignty rights whatsoever. In case 
of their so doing, the orders are very stringent, going so far as to allow of our insist- 
ing on their hauling down the flag at once. * * * Having now shortly sketched 
the present inland boundaries of the Portuguese colonies, I must take my readers back 
to the coast and continue south in the English coasting steamer which we left at 
Kinsembo. Ambriz, our next stop, the most northern seaport of Angola, up to the 
year 1855 was in the hands of the natives, and was one of the principal ports for 
shipping and trading slaves from the interior. There were also American and Liver- 
pool houses trading in gum, malachite, and ivory, and selling many Manchester and 
other goods to dealers from Cuba and the Brazils, with which goods slaves from the 
interior were bought by barter from the natives. Then all trade was free from impost 
and restriction, but as soon as the Portuguese got possession of the place they, in ac- 
cordance with their usual policy, at once established a crtstom-house and levied heavy 
and prohibitive duties on all goods imported. Successful trading under these circum- 
stances was, of course, impossible. 

" The dtities originally fixed at Ambriz by the Portuguese, when they occupied the 
place in 1856, were 6 per cent, ad valorem, which they promised not to increase, in 
order to induce the traders there at the time to remain ; but, notwithstanding this,. 
most, if not all, of the foreign traders removed to Kinsembo, it being neutral port. 
Later on the Portuguese added to the Ambriz duties 2 per cent, ad valorem for muni- 
cipal works ; and about one year ago the following taxes, w^hich had not previously 
existed, were also imposed on the traders: Income tax, 10 per cent. ; house duty, & 
per cent. ; property tax, 10 per cent. ; transfer of property, 6 per cent." 

The same taxes are levied at Angola. 

If the Portuguese are to be allowed any sovereignty rights north of Ambriz, which 
rights they are trying to get recognized by the British Government, they will soon 
find means of setting aside promises which they may now make, just as they have 
done in the case of Ambriz, and impose similar duties to those paid at Angola. 

"Besides all these duties and taxes, the delays experienced at the custom-houses^ 
in Augola and Ambriz, and the impositions practiced by their officers (most of whom 
have only small salaries and depend to a great extent on fees charged for the clear- 
ance of vessels and on goods exported and imported) are the great cause of the non- 
prosperity of the Portuguese ports, compared with the Congo and all the other places 
north of Ambriz, at present neutral. If a merchant at Loando, or at any of the other 
places occupied by the Portuguese, requires to send an open boat of three or four 
tons burden to any of his factories within the said territory, it takes him, in most 
instances, from two to three days to clear this boat at the custom-house and other 
Government offices. Goods also that have already passed the custom-house, paid 
the duties, and been warehoused in the merchants' stores, have, when it is necessary 
to send them by any of the above-mentioned boats to the fiictories, to be taken to 
the custom-house yard, which is the only place whence such shipments are permitted 
to be made, and there again cleared, necessitating the ijaymeut of further fees to the 
officers for clearing and being ju'esent at their shipment. All these requirements of 
the custom-house involve the payment of further fees by the merchants, and the losa 
of time and money caused by the innumerable impositions is only too well known to» 
everv one engaged in the trade." 



42 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

After this the trade at Ambriz laugaished to sacli a degree as to be of little or no 
importauce. 

The following are the duties and taxes now levied liy the Portuguese in the prov- 
ince of Angola. English mamifactured goods pay as below : 

Gray domestics, 4d. jier pound; bleached domestics, 6d. per pound; striped domes- 
tics, prints, regattas, and all colored cotton goods, lOd. per pound ; woolens or Union 
baize blankets, &c., KM. per ijonud ; woolen or Union cloth for trousering, &c., Is. 
■bd. per pound ; linens. Is. per pound ; silks, .5-s. per pound ; silk and cotton mixed, 
3s. per pound ; cutlery and earthenware, 25 per cent, ad valorem. 

Ready-made clothing, same as above on the material and 50 i^er cent, extra for be- 
ing made. 

Copper and metal. Id. per pound; copi^er and metal, manufactured, 7d. per pound; 
iron, zinc, or lead, manufactured, 2id. per pound. 

These duties are levied in full if the goods go direct from England ; but if they go 
to Lisbon, paying there a duty of 1^ per cent, ad valorem, and 3 per cent, for addi- 
tional expenses of landing, reshipping, &c., and are shipped from there by a Portu- 
guese vessel, on their arrival in Africa such goods are only charged 70 per cent, of 
the duties already enumerated. 

It is somewhat surprising that the Portuguese have been allowed to exercise their 
■own sweet will for so long a time. Any other peoj)le than the remarkably inoffensive 
and unwarlike natives of this part of Africa, would have driven them into the sea 
long ago. 

Catumbella, the name of which is taken from the river on which it stands, is the 
next place. There is a fort at the entrance of the river which goes a considerable dis- 
tance inland. It is from here that slaves are shipped to St. Thomas on the Line. 

With regard to the much-vexed slavery question, it may be stated with truth that 
.slaves can be bought and sold still in the provinces of the Portuguese colonies. In 
1878 the Portuguese Government abolished the slave trade in all their possessions, 
but means were found to carry on the traflfic under another name. What really goes 
on in the Portuguese dominions on the southwest coast is as follows : The Portuguese 
possess the island of St. Thomas on the Line, the capital, Santa Anna, being oniy21i 
miles north of the equator, and also Prince's Island, where there are no aborigines, 
and where most valuable laud, capable of producing any kind of crops, is unable to 
be cultivated unless labor is imported. They have got over the difficulty by import- 
ing what they call " colonials." 

At Catumbella, some 7 miles north of Beuguella, the natives are brought down 
by agents from the interior, the agents stating that they are natives freed from the 
■slavery which they were in to their own chiefs : in fact, they are only bought from 
the chiefs, the retail price being about £7 each. They are brought in lighters to 
Bengaella to Catumbella, and then taken to Loando, in the Portuguese mail steamer, 
where a certain form is gone through. Their names, ages, and descriptions are taken 
by the Government officials, and they are asked a number of silly questions, such as, 
■*' Are you hungry ? " "Have you had anything to eat!" or, "Do you want any food?" 
in order that the affirmative "yes" may be elicited, and put down as declaring their 
"willingness to go and labor at St. Thomas for live years. The Government officials, 
•of course, get their fees for each contract. Then the agent proceeds to ship these 
niggers by Portuguese mail boats from Loando to St. Thomas on the Line. The 
negroes are provided with a wooden sjioon, and, I believe, some tin platters, and a 
■certain amount of cotton stirff for clothing ; then they are examined by a doctor, and 
shipped ofl" as deck passengers to St. Thomas. In the steamer by which I came home 
there were eighty-two of these Afi-ican natives, men and women, on their way to the 
island. If the womeu are good-looking, they become the mistresses of the Portuguese 
planters; if they are ugly, they go into the fields and work. They are paid about 
two pence a day, and provided with food and lodging. 

The great curse of the system is that any planter, after he has received his consign- 
ment of black laborers, can go down to Santa Anna, the capital of St. Thomas, and 
recontract these natives, without consulting them, for another term of five or seven 
years. That this is virtually slavery cannot be denied. The natives, when labjring 
at St. Thomas, are treated well, but none of them ever see Africa again. It is not 
exaggeration to say that this rule is invariable. They sufter very much from nostalgia 
.(homesickness), and go to St. Thomas only to work and die. These are bare, unvar- 
nished facts. 

We will now endeavor to find the best and most efficient means of stopping this 
traffic in human flesh. If Her Majesty's gunboats on the coast had orders to board all 
lighters and Portuguese steamers coming from Catumbella, an action which I believe • 
they have a perfect right to take, and demand any papers relating to any natives on 
board such lighters or steamers, the traffic would, in my opinion, cease at once. Coolie 
labor to the Brazils was stopped at Macao, west of Hong-Kong, and there is no reason 
why it should not be stopped here. Of course the Portuguese would say that these 
■^'contracts" were fair transactions between themselves and the natives; that the latter 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 43 

are not really slaves, but are paid laborers' wages and contract themselves of tlieir 
own free will. And they wonld also say, and with truth, that if " colonials" for St. 
Thotuas were stopped, everybody in that island wonld be mined. 

With regard to the domestic slavery that exists in Portuguese Angola and adjacent 
provinces, I must quote the wor<ls of the late Joachim J. Monteiro, who, for many 
years, was engaged in mining work and trading on the coast of Angola : 

"There is very little cruelty attending the state of slavery among the natives at 
Angola, I believe I may say even iu the greater part of the rest of tropical Africa, 
but I will restrict myself to the i)art of which I have an intimate knowledge. It is 
a domestic institution, and has existed as at present since time immemorial; and 
there is no more disgrace or discredit iu having been born of slave ])arents, and con- 
sequently in being a slave, than there is iu Europe in being bom of the dependents or 
servants of an ancestral house and continuing iu its service in the same manner. 

"There is something patriarchal in the state of bondage among the negroes if we 
look at it from an African point of view (I must again impress upon my readers that 
all my remarks apply to Angola and the adjacent provinces). The freeman or owner 
and his wife have to supply their slaves with proper food and clothing; to tend them 
iu sickness as their own children ; to get them husbands or wives, as the case may be; 
supjdy them wiih the means of celebrating their festivals, such as their marriages, 
births, or burials, in nearly the same way as among themselves. The slaves, iu fact, 
are considered as their family and are alvvass spoken of as " my son" or "my daugh- 
ter." If the daughters of slaves are chosen as wives or concubines by their owners 
or other freemen, it is considered an honor, and their children, though looked upon as 
slaves, are entitled to special consideration. There is consequently no cruelty or bard- 
ship attending the state of slavery. A male slave cannot be made by his master to 
cultivate the ground, which is women's work, and the mistress and her slaves till the 
ground together. A stranger set down in Angola, and not aware of the existence of 
slavery, would hardly discover that such an institution prevailed so universally 
among them, so little apparent difference is there between master and slave. A not 
very dissimilar condition of things existed in feudal times in England and other 
countries." 

With regard to my own personal observations and experiences on the coast I fully 
indorse what Mr. Joachim Monteiro says. Of course I have heard of cruelties prac- 
ticed by masters on their slaves, but cases of cruelty are really few and far between. 
Although I totally disapprove of the practice of exporting slaves from their own 
country, yet the negro, pure and simple, when he is clothed, fed, and to a certain ex- 
tent civilized in domestic slavery, is a great deal better oft' than when working in his 
own native village, and, I believe, if consulted, would say a great deal happier. This 
I hope will explain the actual state and status of slavery and slaves in the Portuguese 
possessions in Southwest Africa. 



[Copy of correspondence of tlie Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the secretary of state for 

foreign alfairs.J 

TRADE ON THE RIVER CONGO. 

Chamber of Commerce, 

Manchester, May 30, 1881. 

My Lord: The interest which Great Britain has so long taken in the extension and 
welfare of the trade' with Africa induces the Chamber of Commerce of Manchester to 
address Her Majesty's Government whenever it feels that British influence there is 
being weakened and that commerce is iu any way restricted. 

In 1876 this chamber had occasion to appeal to her Majesty's Government relative 
to pretensions put forward in Lisbon, and to a proclamation issued by the governor- 
general of the Portuguese settlement, St. Paul de Loando, for the purpose of assum- 
ing rights of sovereignty, and of atfectiug the freedom of trade and navigation of the 
river Congo, and in the adjacent territories, between latitude 5*^ 12' and 8° south. 
At that time Her Majesty's Government made such representations to the Govern- 
ment of Portugal that this proclamation was immediately canceled, and the governor- 
geueralof St. Paul de Loando was instructed to return to the status quo and afford every 
facility to commerce. 

Until lately Portugal has not attempted to interrupt the progress of British com- 
merce in that part of West Africa. 

Under the rule of the native chiefs peace has prevailed, the slave trade has been 
abandoned, and commerce has been rapidly extending. Merchants have purchased 
property and sunk considerable capital in the Congo and the adjacent territory, be- 
lieving that Her Majesty's Government could assist them when iu difficulty, and that 



44 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

Great Britain -w^ould never give lier sanction to any attempt on the part of Portugal 
to interfere with her trade. 

In addition to the monthly mail to the soiithwest coast of Africa, two firms have 
steamers running there regularly, and several coasting steamers are permanently em- 
ployed in this trade. 

His Majesty the King of the Belgians has, during the last two years, incurred con- 
siderable expense in an expedition to the Upper Congo for the purposes of opening 
roads, establishing stations for trade, and for communication with the vast tribes 
inhai)iting the interior of Africa. For the result of this expedition merchants are 
watching with interest, believing that this river will ultimately become one of the 
great highways for trade in the heart of Africa. 

The chamber has not been able to obtain any reliable estimate of the value of 
the trade of this part of Africa with Great Britain, especially because a large amount 
of British manufactures intended for the trade is exported to France and to Holland 
for re-exportation from these countries to Africa; but the industry of Lancashire has 
so large a share of this trade, both direct and indirect, that views with anxiety any 
attempt to put restrictions ripon it. 

The Chamber of Commerce of Manchester has learnt that Her Majesty's Government 
has been lately reqiiested to concede to Portugal the claims put forward by her to the 
Congo and to the territory between latitudes 5° 12' and 8° south. The Lisbon Com- 
mercio de Portugal of the '20th instant states that negotiations will shortly be opened 
for determiningthe basis of a treaty with Great Britain guaranteeing to Portugal 
the exclusive possession of the territory between the Ambris and the Congo. The 
alarm felt by British merchants and by this chamber is justified by other statements 
which arrive from Africa regarding missions of naval and military Portuguese officers, 
both to the King of Congo and to the chiefs of Cabendo and of the adjacent territory. 
More than once during the last seventy years Portugal has attempted to establish 
her pretensions to the Congo and to the territory named north of 8° south latitude, 
and not only has the Government of Great Britain always refused to acknowledge such 
claims, but has resisted by armed force each attempt of the Government of Portugal 
to interfere with native rule and with the rights of British merchants. In Novem- 
ber, 1853, Her Majesty's foreign minister. Lord Clarendon, wrote as follows to the 
Portuguese minister in London : 

" It is, therefore, both manifest and notorious that the African tribes who inhabit 
the coast-line claimed by Portugal, between 5° 12' and 8° south latitude, are in reality 
independent, and that the right acquired by Portugal from priority of discovery at 
the end of the fifteenth century has for a long time been suffered to lapse, owing to the 
Portuguese Government not having occupied the country so discovered. In the 
presence of these facts the undersigned must repeat the declaration of Her Majesty's 
Government that the interests of commerce imperatively required it to maintain the 
right of unrestricted intercourse with that part of the coast of Western Africa ex- 
tending between 5'^ 12' and the 8th degree of south latitude." 

The advent of the Portuguese Government to the Congo and to the adjacent terri- 
tory would not only disturb the peace of the country, but it would cause the ruin of 
the trade and blight all hopes of increased intercourse and commerce with the tribes 
of the interior. Therefore the Chamber of Commerce of Manchester respectfully 
prays that Her Majesty's Government will maintain towards Portugal the same 
attitude which has been adopted by previous British Governments, and that British 
merchants may receive such assurance as will enable them to continue, without hesi- 
tation or interruption, the extension of their trade, which each year is becoming 
more valuable to this country. 

This chamber is also desirous of urging upon the consideration of Her Majesty's 
Government its anxiety regarding the action of European powers in making exclu- 
sive treaties, which interfere with free trade and navigation in Africa. It has been 
informed that a treaty has been concluded between the French Government of Sene- 
gal and the King of Sego, on the Niger, excluding all other nations from trade in 
that country and from navigation on the Niger from its sources to Timbuctoo. 
Although the trade at present existing may be small, traders from Gambia have for 
many years been in direct communication with the natives of the Sego country. It 
is within 400 miles of the Britisli possessions of Gambia and Sierra Leone, and the 
sources of the Niger are within 200 miles of British territory. 

Hitherto the trade of Great Britain with Western Africa has been carried on mainly 
on the sea-coast, but her trade is gradually extending into the interior, and the fur- 
ther merchants penetrate inland the more they find the natives industrious and de- 
sirous of peaceful intercourse and trade. The interference of Her Majesty's officers is 
seldom required, but more frequent visits on their part to the different trading sta- 
tions would be of advantage, as British merchants feel that the nature of African 
commerce does call for protection and fostering attention from their Government. 

A large amount of capital is now invested in the trade of the difterent rivers on the 
west coast of Africa, and the industry of this district has a considerable interest in its 



OCCUPATION OF THE COXGO COUXTRY IN AFRICA. 45 

prosperity. This cliamber would, therefore, view with deep couceru couuteMauce 
given by Her Majesty's Govermnent to any action of foreign powers which might tend 
to interrupt the free course of trade, or to weaken the iutiueuce or the prestige of 
Great Britain witli the natives of Africa. 

I have the honor to be, my lord, your lordship's obedient, very humble servant, 

JOHN SLAGG, 

President. 
The right honorable the Earl Gra'* ville, K. G., &c. 

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Office, London. 



Foreign Office, June 30, 1881. 
Sir: I am directed by Earl Granville to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 
the 30th ultimo, containing representations as to the" action of certain European pow- 
ers in Western Africa, with special reference to the claims put forward by Portugal 
to the territory lying between latitude 5° 12' and 8° south, and to a treaty said to have 
been concluded between the Government of Senegal and the King of Sego on the 
Niger, and I am to inform you in reply that your communication shall receive due 
consideration. 

I am, &c., 

T. V. LISTER. 

The President of the Chamber of Commerce, Manchester. 



To the right honorable the Earl Granville, K. G., &c. 

Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs : 

The memorial of the directors of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, by their 
chairman, respectfully showeth — 

That your memorialists desire respectfully to bring under your lordship's consider- 
ation the important interests of Great Britain in the trade of the southwest coast of 
Africa, and more especially in the commerce with those native countries where its 
interests are threatened under pretensions put forward by European powers, and 
through exclusive treaties being made with native chiefs by officers of the Govern- 
ment powers. 

That the suppression of the slave trade in Western Africa has permitted England to 
withdraw its fleet almost altogether from that coast ; but as legitimate commerce has 
supplanted the former nefarious traffic, so has the necessity increased for Great Brit- 
ain to maintain friendly relations with the native chiefs, and to exert a civilizing 
influence over African states, whereby the commerce of England in Western Africa will 
he fostered and rapidly extended. This Chamber has previously addressed Her Maj- 
esty's Government on occasions when the freedom and welfare of the trade of Great 
Britain appeared to be threatened, and only recently communicated its views relative 
to claims put forward by Portugal, on that country assuming exclusive rights on the 
River Congo and over the bordering states. The recent expedition of the Interna- 
tional So ;iety, under Monsieur de Brazza, an officer of the French Government, and 
the pul)lication of a treaty entered into for the annexation to France of territory on 
the Congo, will, as your 'memorialists would humblj submit, justify a further rep- 
Tesentatiou regarding the future freedom of the trade of those regions. 

Although Her Majesty's consul on the southwest coast of Africa, who resides at 
St. Paul de Loando, has jurisdiction over the native states to the north of the Portu- 
guese possessions, he has not at his disposal the means of watching over British in- 
terests where his presence is most needed, and especially on the Congo, and at those 
ports where trade flourishes under native rule along a coast of over 500 miles in 
extent. 

This chamber would, therefore, respectfully pray that your lordship will favor- 
ably consider the necessity for the appointment of a resident British consul or con- 
sular agent, whose duty shall be essentially that of watching over the interests and 
trade of Great Britain on the Congo and on the neutral coasts between the French 
and Portuguese possessions, and in order that he may be able to visit frequently, 
and to maintain constant communication with the natives of difi'erent tribes, and at 
all times to keep Her Majesty fully informed regarding the condition and progress of 
trade, this chamber would venture to suggest the im])ortaut advantages to be de- 
rived by a steamer or gunboat being permanently stationed on the southwest coast, 
and placed at the disposal of the consul or consular agent appointed there. By this 
means respect will be insured for the Government and for the commerce of Great 
Britain, and both English merchants and native traders will know that from Her 
Majesty's representative tbey can at all times seek for advice in any difficulties or 
disjjutes which may arise. 



46 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

Through the important discoveries during recent years on the Congo and on its tribu- 
taries greater interests than those of the industry of Lancashire, and of even the trade 
of Great Britain, are becomiug involved. Europe now seeks to promote the civili- 
zation and enlightenment of Central Africa, and to extend peaceful intercourse with 
its vast populations. Great Britain stands among the first countries to reap the ad- 
vantages of this development of trade, and the Chamber of Commerce at Manchester 
■would be among the foremost to subnut for the consideration of your lordship the im- 
portant prospective interests at stake. 

Your memorialists would therefore pray that the earnest endeavors of Her Majesty's 
Government may be directed towards x)romoting a friendly understanding with the 
respective Governments of Europe and of the United States in oriler that the sover- 
eign and territorial rights of the Congo and of the adjacent neutral territories may 
be respected and maintained, and that in future there shall be no interference ou the 
jsart of any power with the existing freedom of navigation and commerce on that 
river and its tributaries. 

And your memorialists will ever pray. 

GEORGE LORD, 

President. 
THOMAS BROWNING, 

Secretary. 

Manchester, Novemler 13, 1882. 



Chambek of Commerce, 

Manchester, January 29, 1883. 

My Lord : Ou the 13th of November last this chamber addressed to your lordship 
a memorial on the affairs of the southwest coast of Africa, praying more especially 
that the earnest endeavors of Her Majesty's Government might "be directed towards 
promoting a friendly understanding with other powers in order that the sovereign and 
territorial rights of the natives of the Congo and the adjacent neutral territories 
might be respected and maintained. The chamber has not been favored Avith any 
reply to this memorial, but, since last addressing your lordship, has learned that Her 
Majesty's Government has received, and views with favorable consideration, propos- 
als from the Government of Portugal to the efl'ect that on certain concessions being- 
made by her, she shall be allowed to annex the whole of the native territory lying be- 
tween latitude 5° 12' and latitude 8° south, including the river Congo. If the sanction 
of Her Majesty's Government be given to such annexation, the policy of Great Britain 
during the whole of this century will be reversed, and the greater part of the trade now 
conducted on the southwest coast of Africa must fall under the control of Portugal. 
It is scarcely necessary to remind your lordship that although Portugal has for cen- 
turies held 700 miles of coast line of adjacent territory on the west coast, and 1,200 
miles on the east coast of Africa, she has not yet succeeded in develox)iug any impor- 
tant legitimate trade, nor even civilization, in her African possessions; and this cham- 
ber cannot but feel that her present pretensions are being urged upon Her Majesty's 
Government in a great measure because Portugal sees that the real and substantial 
progress of trade which has been going ou during the past thirty years, extends over 
this small strip of territory to the north of her dominions. Also, since the discovery of 
Mr. H. M. Stanley of the importance of the river Congo, Portugal fears that the future 
commerce of the interior of Africa will pass through channels where civilization is 
extending, and where there is no hindrance to the freedom of trade and navigation. 

The chamber would call the attention of your lordship to the British customs re- 
turns which show that the average direct exports of Great Britain to the whole of 
the Portuguese |)ossessions both in East and West Africa, extending over 1,900 miles 
of coast line, have not exceeded during the past eight years, 1874-1881, inclusive, 
£180,000 per annum; while it is estimated, by merchants engaged in the trade, that 
there are exported annually three times that amount of British manufactures solely 
to the Congo and the adjacent native territory. It is to the annexation of the banks 
of this important river and outlet from the center of Africa, and to the sole control 
over this branch of British trade, that the sanction of Her Majesty's Government is 
now sought by Portugal. Although this chamber has on several prcA'ious occasions 
prayed Her Majesty's Government not to recognize these pretensions of Portugal, it 
would fail in its duty to the important interests which it represents were it to do- 
lay submitting to your lordship a respectful but earnest protest against the recog- 
nition by Her Majesty's Government of any annexation of the native territories both 
on and adjacent to the Congo, and also against the sanction of Her Majesty's Govern- 
ment being given to the slightest interference with that complete freedom of naviga- 
tion and commerce which for many years has been, and is still, enjoyed by British 
merchants in Western Africa. 
I have the honor, &c., 

GEO. LORD, 

President. 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 47 

Foreign Office, Fehruary 3, 1863. 
Sir : In ackuowledging the receipt of your letter of the 29th ultimo, relating to 
the position of affa,ii-s on the Congo, I am directed by Earl Granville to express to you: 
his regret that, by inadvertence, no acknov^ledgment was sent to you of your letter 
on the same subject of the 13th of November last, and to inform you that your ob- 
servations will receive due attention. 
I am, &c., 

T. V. LISTER. 
To the Secretary Chamher of Commerce, Manchester. 



This brings us down to the present month, during which some questions on the sub- 
ject have been asked in the House of Commons by the Right Honorable Robert Bourke,. 
and in the House of Lords by Lord Mount Temple. I think it is important to people 
interested in the Congo to have the whole of Lord Mount Temple's question, and 
also the whole of Earl Granville's reply given on March 9, instant. 

THE CONGO. 

"Lord Mount Temple. I wish to ask the secretary of state for foreign affairs, 
whether it is in the contemplation of Her Majesty's Government to recognize the 
claim of Portugal to dominion over the territory adjoining the river Congo; and, if 
so, whether he has reason to anticipate that tlie policy that has hitherto prevailed in 
that territory will be reversed in regard to the slave trade and freedom of commerce, 
I kave been i)romjDted in this matter by the alarm of the manufacturers and mer- 
chants concerned in the trade of this district. They are of the opinion that if the 
Portuguese should succeed in exercising a sovereign jurisdiction over the native tribes- 
of that country, the restrictive and interfering policy which has hitherto been char- 
acteristic of the Portuguese Government would seriously interfere with the existing 
trade, and would also prevent that full development of it which is now anticipated. 
There is every reason to believe that hereafter the river Congo may become the great 
highway of the inland tribes, who are industrious and peaceful, and ready to enter 
into commercial relationship with Euroijeans. 

Earl Granville. I am glad that the noble lord has put this question, because I 
hope it will enable me to put an end to misapprehensions which seem to exist, and 
which, to a certain extent, are shared by himself as to this important matter. It ap- 
pears to be supposed by some that Her Majesty's Government ])roi)ose to give up a A'^ast 
extent of territory which belongs to this country, with some vague hox^e that the Por- 
tuguese will furnish an obstacle to the ambitious designs of other powers. The noble 
lord is not misinformed to this extent, but even he has considerable misap])rehensions. 
on the subject. I do not think it is unnatural that those who have taken a great 
interest, either in the cjuestion of slavery, or in the question of religious efforts, or of 
questions of trade and commerce in these countries, should fe'el most sensitive with re- 
gard to any proceedings that are likely to be taken. It is not so veiy long ago that the- 
interests of Europeans on the Congo and other African rivers were centered in the de- 
sire of monopolizing the slave trade. It would be a great glory for this country that 
she took the lead in reversing this policy, and leading the way to a suppression of this- 
abominable traffic. But a great change has come over the African question. The 
labors of men like Livingston, Stanley, and others have given us a knowledge of the 
physical character of central Africa, and of the populations which inhabit it, show- 
ing that there are great capabilities for the development of trade, and of the civiliz- 
ing effects which are the result of commerce. The work of the Philanthropic Inter- 
national Association, in which the King of the Belgians takes a great interest, the 
mission of M. de Brazza, the increasing trade in different degrees, of the English, the 
Portuguese, the French, the Germans, the Dutch, and the Belgians, on the Congo and 
its banks, are acting as a stimulus and afford grounds why no reasonable endeavors 
should be neglected to insure freedom of commerce and navigation, and to antici- 
pate possible jealousies, which so easily check trade, and which, under the pre- 
tense of securing peculiar advantages to some, are really injurious to all. There 
is much now Avhich is not satisfactory on the Congo. In those territories which we 
acknowledge to belong to Portugal complaints are made of high duties, of a dift'eren- 
tial treatment of the foreign and Portuguese flags, of arbitrary fines, and other vexa- 
tions, greatly impeding commercial intercourse. On the Congo itself the Portuguese 
declare that the slave trade is entirely at an end, and there can be no doubt that it is 
greatly diminished — partly owing to the cessation of the transatlantic demand for 
slaves, partly to a change of policy on the part of the Portuguese Government. There 
are territories on the Congo to which the Portuguese lav a claim in the most solemn 



48 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 

manner in which it is possible for a nation to put it forward by diplomatic declara- 
tions and by legislative enactments, but which have been as constantly repudiated 
and resisted'by us as a matter of right. Successive secretaries for foreign affairs have 
stated that the fear of encouraging the slave trade and the danger of interference 
with our commerce were the political reasons which induced them to lay further stress 
on the matter of right. The existing state of these territories is unsatisfactory as re- 
gards the present and the future. It is true that there are many respectable firms 
who manage to act fairly and harmoniou.sly with the natives. Bat it cannot be denied 
that there is uo acknowledged jurisdiction; that in places anarchy prevails; that 
there are cases of practical slavery, of cruelty, and then of retaliatory outrages without 
any opportunity for redress. It became thus a matter of some urgency to consider 
whether, without abandoning our position as to the matter of right, the political ob- 
jections to which I have alluded could in any way be met. An important interchange 
of views took place in 1881 between our minister, Mr. (now Sir Robert) Morier and M. 
de Serpa, who initiated it. Last October M. de Serpa renewed this conversation. 
The chief object of Her Majesty's Government in assenting to the renewal of the con- 
versation was stated by me to be to secure the abolition of slavery and the civilization 
of Africa by the extension of legitimate commerce. The Portuguese Government de- 
clared in still more emphatic terms that their objects were the same. They gave 
proof of their being in earnest by expressing their assent to the perfectly free naviga- 
tion, not only of the Congo, but of other African rivers which are arteries of trade, and 
agreed, not only to establish in the territories which we have not recognized as be- 
longing to Portugal, but in all the African possessions of Portugal, the liberal com- 
mercial system which was established in 1877 in Mozambique. 

The general principles of the agreement do not offer any difficulty; but I am far 
from being sure of coming to an understanding on all of the conditions, which, in our 
view, are indispensable. It may be convenient that I should state what appear to us 
to be essential points. I need not say that the agreement as to dealing with slavery 
must be complete. Secondly, it is necessary there should be complete security that 
undue burdens, which do not now exist, should not be placed in any part of the Por- 
tuguese possessions upon missionaries, ship-owners, or traders. I said that it was 
supposed by some that we are giving away boundless territory which belonged fco us. 

We do no such thing. What we propose is that, without receding from the posi- 
tion of legality as to the right which is claimed, we should agree on the conditions 
which I have stated, together with some arrangements of a satisfactory character as 
to Whydah, to withdraw our objections for the future to Portuguese jurisdiction 
within certain defined geographical limits. This engagement ought not to be merely 
of a bilateral character. We will give our whole support to Portugal to obtain a 
similar assent from other powers. 

I am far from being certain that these negotiations will be successful, but if a good 
treaty is obtained — and a bad one would be worse than nothing— 1 believe we shall 
strengthen the general principle of freedom of navigation and commerce on the great 
rivers of the world, and that in Africa itself we shall greatly advance the interests of 
civilization and commerce. It has been asked what security shall we have that the 
Portuguese will observe- the conditions of any treaty. This is an argument which, if 
valid, is fatal to all treaties. [Hear, hear.] ' It would be unbecoming in my position 
to admit that this result would be likely to happen ; but admitting it hypothetically, 
I would ask how we should have less moral and physical power to enforce the condi- 
tions of a treaty to which Portugal has consented, than that by which we now resist 
the claim of sovereignty which Portugal so thoroughly asserts. It would be wrong 
of me to go into great details on matters which are under negotiation, but I trust that 
the statements which I have made of the general character of the negotiations will be 
sufficient to enable this house to judge of the principles on which Her Majesty's Gov- 
ernment are acting. [Cheers. ] " 

* ■ « * « * « * 

At the present time the Portuguese have no rights or sovereignty north of the river 
Loge, latitude 7° 50' south (approximate), so nostrando parte du Congo has no existence 
within the boundaries of their present southwest African colonies. In truth, " our part 
of the Congo," as they euphoniously call it, is quite neutral, and the merchants trading 
therein protected by the English gunboats on the station. 

Portuguese rule, if allowed, means utter confusion and vexatious delays in mercan- 
tile business, and, also, local taxation which no treaty, if entered into, could possibly 
cover. I wish to most emphatically impress upon my readers this fact of local taxa- 
tion ; and all the promises Portugal may make they will find means to break, once 
that any capital is launched in the territories they now claim and would hold. 

At the capital of Portuguese West Africa (St. Paul de Loando), the municipal gov- 
ernment are bankrupt, and very often there is not enough money to pay the employ6s' 
wages. The Bank Ultramarino refuses to lend the town auy money, as there is no 
security available to offer. A more wretched state of affairs can scarcely be imagin'-'' 

The monopoly given to the Quanza Steam Navigaton Company paralyzes the tr 
in that river instead of largely opening up "its very wide resources. 



/ 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 49 

One uiight adduce many more rather less striking examijles of Portuguese misrule 
and sliort-sighted government ; but my Euglisli readers must be rather astounded at 
the fact that domestic slavery exists in the African colonies of Portugal, and that 
"colonials," or rather, in other or jilainer words, slaves, are shipped every mouth 
from Catunibella to labor and die at St. Thomas on the line. 

All these ijlain and unvarnished facts, which have come under my own personal 
notice, show what sort of things go on where Portugal ruins and rules her African 
territories. 

I consider th;it if England were to acknowledge the claims of Portugal, the latter 
once established would seek in every way to evade the terms of any treaty that might 
be entered into. Former facts go to prove this. 

In fact, the British merchants interested in the west and southwest coast trade 
pray that Portugal may be prevented from encroaching in any way whatsoever on 
the now neutral and independent territories, where the natives are tranquil and well 
disposed, and where the greatest of all civilizers, English free trade, flourishes. 



TREATY OF VIVI. 

M. August Sparhawk, agent of the International Expedition of the Upper Congo, 
acting in the name and for account of the ConiUe d'ctudes of the Lower Congo, and 
Vivi Mavungu, Vivi Mku, Ngusu Mpanda, Beuzane Congo, Kapita, have come together 
the 13th of June, 18S0, at the station Vivi, in order to discuss and to decide upon cer- 
tain measures of common interest. 

After full examination they have arrived at the dispositions and engagements Avliich 
are embodied in the present treaty, to wit : 

Article 1. The aforesaid chiefs of the district of Vivi recognize that it is highly 
desirable that the Comiie d'etudea of the Congo should create and develoj) in their 
states establishments calculated to foster commerce and trade and to assure to the 
country and its inhabitants the advantages which are the consequence thereof. 

With this object they cede and abandon, in full property, to the Comite d' etudes the 
territory comprised within the following limits : To the west and north and east the 
left banks of the river Lulu, and to the south the districts of Kolu and Congo. 

Art. 2. The chiefs of the district of Vivi solemnly declare that these territories 
form an integral part of their states, and that they are able freely to dispose of them. 

Art. 3. The cession of the territories specified in the last paragraph of Article 1 is 
consented to in consideration of a present represented by the following articles and 
goods to each one : A uniform coat, a cai), a coral necklace, a knife ; and a monthly 
gift to Vivi Mavungu of two pieces of cloth ; to Vivi Mku of one piece of cloth ; to 
to Ngusu Mpanda, one piece of cloth; to Benzane Congo, one piece of cloth ; to Ka- 
pita, one piece of cloth. 

Art. 4. The cession of the territory includes the abandonment by them and the 
transfer to the Comiie d'etuaes of all sovereign rights. 

Art. b. The Comite ff etudes engages itself expressly to leave to the natives the Ixee 
enjoyment of the lands which they now cultivate to supply their needs. It iiromises 
to protect them and to defend their persons and their property against aggressions 
and encroachments, from whatsoever side, which shall attack their individual liberty 
or shall seek to take away from them the fruit of their labors. 

Art. 6. The chiefs of the district of Vivi grant, besides, to the Comite' d'e'tades — 

(1.) The cession of all the routes of communication now open to or to be oijened 
throughout the whole extent of their states. If the comite deems it proper it shall 
have the right to establish and levy for its own prolit tolls upon said routes to defray 
the expenses incurred in their construction. The routes thus opened shall embrace, 
besides the routes i>roperly so-called, a breadth of twenty meters right and left there- 
from. This breadth constitutes part of the cession, and shall be, like the route itself, 
the property of the Comite' d'e'tude, 

(2.) The right of trading freely with the natives who form part of their states. 

(3.) The right of cultivating unoccupied lands ; to open up the forests ; to cut trees ; 
to gather India rubber, copal, wax, honey, and, generally, all the natural iiroductions. 
which are found there ; to fish in the rivers and streams and water-courses and to work 
the mines. 

It is understood that the comite can exercise the several rights mentioned in the 
third paragraph throughout the whole extent of the states of the chiefs of Vivi. 

7. The chiefs of the district of Vivi undertake to unite their forces to those of the 
comite to rej)el attacks which may be made by intruders, no matter of what color. 

The chiefs, not knowing how to sign, have put their marks, in the presence of the 
witnesses hereafter designated and who have signed. 

[SEAL.] AUG. SPARHAWK. 

LSEAL.] JOHN KICKBRIGHT. 

[seal.] FRANK MAHONEY. 

[SEAL.] GEOFFREY. 

S. Rep. 393—4. 



50 OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUKTEY IN AFRICA. 

treaty of leopoldville. 

29th of April, 1883. 
We, the undersigned, chiefs of the district of N'Kamo, of Kuiswangi, of Kimpe, and 
of all the districts extending from the river Congo to L^oj)oldTille and to Ntamo, up 
to the river Lutess and the mountains of Sam a Sankori, have resolved to put our- 
selves, as well as our heirs and descendants, under the protection and patronage of 
the Comite d'etudes of the Upper Congo, and to give power to its representative at 
Mianio to regulate all disputes and conflicts that may arise between us and foreigners 
of whatsoever color, residing out of the district or territory of N'Kamo, in order to 
prevent strangers, animated by wicked intentions or ignorant of our customs, from 
exciting embarrassments or endangering the peace and security and independence 
which we now enjoy. 

By the present act we also resolve to adopt the flag of the ComiU d'itudes of the 
Upper Congo, as a sign for each and all of us that we are under its sole protection. 

We also solemnly and truly declare that this is the only contract we have ever made, 
and that we will never make any contract with any European or African without the 
concurrence and agreement of the Comite d' etudes of the Upper Congo. 
To the above resolution we freely put our marks. 

NGALIEMA, his X mark. 
MAKAEI, his X mark. 

NUMBI, his X mark. 

MANWALE, his X mark. 
NYASKO, his X mark. 

TREATY OF MANYANGA. 

During the j>aZa&re held at Manyanga the 12th of August, 1882, it is agreed between 
the members hereinafter designated of the expedition of the Upper Congo — 

Dr. Edward Pechuel Loesche, chief of the expedition ; 

Capt. Edmund Hanssens, chief of the division of L^opold-Manyanga ; 

Lieut. Arthur Niles, chief of Manyanga ; 

First-Lieut. Orban, deputy chief of Manyanga ; 

Edward Ceris, assistant of Pechuel, representing the comite of the Upper Congo ; 
and the chiefs hereafter named of Manyanga — 

Makito, of Kintamba ; 

Nkosi, of Kintamba; 

Filankuni, of Kintamba ; 

Maluka, of Kintamba ; 

Kuakala, of Kintamba; 

Mankatula, of Kintamba- Kimbuku 

Luamba, of Kintamba ; 

In the name of their subjects. 

Article I. Hereafter the territory of Manyanga, heretofore belonging to the chiefs 
before cited, situated north and south of the river, and bounded on the west by the 
stream Luseto, and by the stream Msua Mungua on the east, shall be the sole property 
of the Comity d'etudes of the Upper Congo. 

Art. II. The chiefs and their subjects, their villages, their plantations, their domes- 
tic animals, and fishing apparatus shall be placed under the protection of the Expe- 
dition. 

Art. III. In all political affairs of the populations of the district protected and ac- 
quired, their quarrels, differences, elections of chiefs, shall be submitted to the deci- 
sion of the member of the Expedition who shall be present at the station. 

If the people of Manyanga shall be attacked by neighboring tribes, the Expedition 
shall defend their women and children and their property by all the means in their 
power. If the Expedition shall be attacked by another tribe, the men shall be bound 
to defend the station. 

Art. IV. In consequence of the rights acquired and protection afforded, no stranger 
whatsoever can build or oijen a road or carry on commerce in the territory of Man- 
yanga. 

Art. V. At the request of the chief of the station, the chief of the district shall put 
at his disposition the necessary number of laborers, men or women, for the work of 
the station and the service of the caravans. 

Art. VI. Besides the sum stipulated, which has been remitted in goods to the as- 
sembled chiefs in payment for their territories, and for which they have given a receipt, 
the chiefs shall receive monthly presents on condition that they remain true friends 
and voluntarily perform the services asked of them. 

Art. VII. The first chief of Manyanga, Makito, residing at Kintamba, receives the 
flag of the Expedition, which he will raise in his village in sign of the protection ex- 
ercised by the expedition. 

(Here follow the crosses and signatures.) 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COUNTRY IN AFRICA. 



51 



TREATY WITH THE KING OF NIADI. 

Stephanievillc. 

Between, ou the one side, Captain John Grant Elliott, comujis-sioner and representa- 
tive of the romited' eludes of the Upper Congo, and, on the other band, King M'Wuln 
M'Boomga, King of Niadi, in his own name, and in that of his heirs and successors, 
the following contract has been made and signed in the presence of the witnesses 
whose signatures are below given: 

Article I. The party lirst named engages himself to make to the second party 
named above an immediate payment of GO yards of navelist, 20 pieces of superior stuffs, 
8 pieces of ratteen stuff, and a keg of powder. He, moreover, engages to make to 
the above-named party of the second part, his heirs and successors, a monthly pay- 
ment, which shall commence in four m<mths, with arrears from the date of this con- 
tract, of four pieces of stuff's, and to (•ontinue always this payment, if, in compensa- 
tion therefor, the party of the second part, in his name and in that of his heirs and 
successors, makes an absolute and immediate sale oi a certain portion of territory 
sketched further on, described in Art. 2, the territory selected by the first-named party, 
and over which the flag of the comite d'etudes of the Upper Congo, that is to say, a blue 
flag with a yellow star in the center, has been raised. 

Art. II. The country ceded by the above-named article is described below, and 
accepted by the contracting parties. Captain John Grant Elliott and the King. 

1. Six miles towards the west, from the junction of the Niadi and the Ludema, and 
following the banks of the Niadi TNiari). 

2. Ten miles from the same confluence, towards the south, and following the banks 
of the Ludema. 

3. Ten miles towards the east, from the confluence above named, and following the 
course of the Niadi (Niari). 

4. Ten miles towards the south, from the same confluence, and following the-Ludema. 

5. Ten miles to the north of the Niadi (Niari), ou each side from that point of the 
Niadi opposite the mouth of the Ludema, runfiing back five miles towards the north. 

GRANT ELLIOTT. 

WULN M'BOOMGA. 
Witnesses: 

Von SHAUMA:sfN. 

Legat. 

Destrain. 



Table of treaties, and of the stations created Jyy the Internaiional Association of the Congo, 
and tvhich form the chief places of the states possessed by this Association on the Congo and 
on the Niadi Kuiloo. 



No. 



Names of stations. 



Names of treaties and of districts ceded. 



II 



Vivi. 



Issanghila . 



in 



Manayanga . 



Vivi. 

Tellala. 

Sala Kidougo. 

Gangbila. 

Sadika Banzi. 

Ingha. 

N'Sunda. 

Kionzo. 

N'Bambi M'bongo. 

Talabiilla. 

Issanghila. 

Ndambi M'bongo. 

M'Kelo. 

Fua na Sonrty. 

Koniuiovo M'Bongo. 

Tanga. 

Kanisalou. 

M'binda. 

Sakali Boadi. 

Tcbouma Eauga. 

Tombukile. 

Ngoma. 

N'Zadi. 

Tchincala. 

Banzaugombi. 

Manayanga. 

Bandanga. 

Banza. 

M'Bou. 



52 



OCCUPATION OF THE CONGO COTNTRY IN AFKICA. 



Table of treaties and of the stations created hy the International Association of the Congo, 

4'C. — Continued. 



No. 



IV 



VI 



vn 
vin 



IX 
X 



XI 



XIV 

XV 

XVI 

XVII 

XVIII 

XIX 

XX 

XXI 
XXII 



Names of stations. 



Lutete. 



Leopoldville 



Msuata 

Bololoo 

Kudolfstadt .. 

Beaiidoinevillo 
Franktown . - . 



Stanley Niadi. 



StephanieviUe 



Names of treaties and of districts ceded. 



Anvers 

Gideema 

Lxikolela "j 

Equateur 

Phillippeville 

Bulangnugu 

Mboka 

ilkula 

GrantviUe 

Ma>ssabe 



007 754 631 5 



Loufountchou. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

Kimbanda. 

Ngombi. 

Leopoldville. 

Kimpoko. 

Kiushassa. 

Kiutambou. 

Souvoulou. 

M'bala. 

Woutimi (south). 

Woutimi (north). 

Msuata. 

Bolobo. 

Matchibouga. 

Tchissanga. 

Kitahi. 

Zientu. 

Mengo. 

Frauktown. 

Goudou. 

Ganda. 

rouiudoukifout. 

Makouba Bnga. 

Sitambe. 

Bieba. 

Moyby. 

Matalila. 

NZombo. 

Ganda Kobombo. 

Mabuka. 

Chinnifor. 

Mudenda. 

Nyange. 

Lubu. 

Zoa. 

N'Gewlla Chunikonbo. 

M'Gwella. 

Saijgha. 

Charli. 

Mikasso. 

Moulangas. 

Mackanga. 

Ludema. 

Ungoonga. 

Buconzo. 

Matenda. 

Tanga Dibiconga. 

Licarnga. 

Bumianga. 

ChibandaN'Kuni. 

Kingi. 

Anversland. 

Buda. 

Towha. 

Gideemba. 

Sushwangi. 

(This and the three following stations have' 
been established, but the treaties not yet 
received.) 

(As to stations 19 and 20, treaties have been 
concluded, but their tenor is not known.) 

(21 and 22 are secondary stations, intended to 
fill up the gap between the lines of the Kui- 
loo and the Congo.) 



